


Dreaming of You

by jwriter819



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Big Brother Harley, Foster Care, Found Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Irondad, Kid Harley Keener, Kid Peter Parker, Parent Tony Stark, Precious Peter Parker, Tony Stark Has A Heart, inspired by a true story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2020-05-31 11:51:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 56,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19425415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jwriter819/pseuds/jwriter819
Summary: Peter and Harley have a hard life. With a mother who loves herself more than them, they find themselves leaning and depending on each other to survive.That all changes when a chance encounter leads them to a man who'll change their lives.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to this journey! This is based on a true story with some liberties taken but I guarantee you it's going to be a fun, captivating, and emotional ride. 
> 
> Note: Peter & Harley are brothers, Tony is an inventor with too much free time. The rest you'll see introduced as they come. :) 
> 
> Remember this is an AU...no powers, but their personalities are very similar.
> 
> Lastly, there are a few mentions of child abuse, but nothing too graphic. Stay safe.

Tony saw the little boy burst out of the building like it was on fire. The boy was frantically pumping his arms and pushing his legs as fast as they would go. “Help! Somebody help!” He pushed the brown curls out of his face and looked around in every direction. “Please!” What was a kid this small doing out here this close to night time? Running up to the first person he saw the boy pulled on the woman’s wrist. “Please help me!” The woman gave him a harsh look and shook her head before walking away. Tony started toward the mildly familiar boy. It was clear that after trying to get almost a dozen people to help that the kid was starting to lose hope. Still, in his jeans and work boots, Tony couldn’t help but stare down at the boy. Wasting no time the boy ran right up to him. “Please help me!” 

“What’s wrong,” Tony said kneeling down.

“My brother! He’s in trouble and it’s bad! P-please help!” The man placed his hand under his chin and saw a small bruise near his ear. 

“Does this happen a lot?”

“Only if we’re bad!” The boy tugged on his arm again. “Please hurry!”

“Ok, show me what’s going on.” Relief flooded through the boy’s face as he pulled the man toward the building by his wrist. 

“Help! We need help!”

“Hang on kiddo, I’m old,” Tony teased trying to get the kid to calm down. 

“No time!” The boy looked like he was running farther and faster than he wanted to, but he couldn’t stop. Tony had to help the kid to stop him from falling on his face several times. After what seemed like at least six flights of stairs he saw the boy use all of his body weight to pull one of the heavy doors open leading to the apartments. 

“The school called again stupid!” The muffled yell could be heard from down the hall causing Tony’s blood to boil. “You tried to steal from the cafeteria?”

“Ah! Stop!”

“We’re too late! Come on!” The boy tugged Tony’s arm harder than he’d expect from a six-year-old as he tried to run toward the partially opened door.

“You never listen! You and that runt of a brother are in for it! Where is he?” Tony couldn’t hear what the boy said, but he knew that it was something smart because he heard two distinct slaps against what he figured was the boy’s face.

“Stop mouthing off you little piece of trash!” As soon as the boy pushed the door open Tony heard a crash and a distinct cry. Gasping it was worse than he thought. The other boy was half lying half kneeling on the floor being held up only by the front of his ratty t-shirt. The man’s meaty hand hit him again just as the smaller boy lunged at the back of the man’s leg.

“Leave ‘im alone Owen!” Tony was in shock as the small child pounded the back of the man’s leg with his small fist earning him a hard shove to the floor. He landed with an oof.

What the hell was going on here?

Before he could stop himself he was across the room grabbing the man sharply by the font of his shirt. “Don’t touch him!” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the bigger boy wrapped his arms around the smaller one and tugged him toward the door.

“Think it’s fun to hurt kids,” Tony growled as he lifted Owen up to punch him again. “Not so fun, when you’re the one who’s bleeding, is it?” 

“Those kids are rotten! Skipping school, never helping their mama. Useless is what they are!” The man rolled his eyes. “He got caught stealing from the cafeteria. Thief.” 

Tony didn’t care what the kid did. This man was trash. He turned toward the boys. The taller blonde one had the curly brown haired one directly against his chest protectively. “What’s your name?”

“H-Harley.” Tony nodded and popped Owen square in the mouth. “That’s for Harley.” Then he punched the man right on the nose. “That’s for scaring his brother.” With the last shot, Owen was out. Standing up Tony spat on Owen’s face. “Scum. Hitting a child like that.”

“I need the police to Boyton Landing Apartment 212,” Tony growled into his cellphone. “There’s two kids who are being abused,” he said before he looked around, “and from the looks of it neglected.” 

Harley scrambled forward. “No sir, please don’t! Mama will be home soon and she’ll get in trouble too!” Tony’s face softened. 

“Does this happen to you a lot?” Harley shook his head and glanced back at his brother. “Come on, from the looks of things and the marks on your brother there that can’t be the full truth.” The man sighed. “Don't worry. You’ll be safe where you’re going.” 

“We can’t! They’ll come and take us away,” Harley shook his head. “Me and Peter gotta stay together. We’re fine now. Really. You can go.” Tony saw how scared the kid looked. His younger brother was tucked protectively to his side. His clothes were faded and a couple sizes too small while the younger one everything was swallowing him. These kids were in need of some help. 

“Well, your brother was really scared when he ran into the street. He must have asked ten people to help him.” Harley glared down at Peter and the boy just shook his head.

“I was scared,” he mumbled. 

“Everything scares you,” Harley shot back angrily bumping his brother’s shoulders. The older boy squared himself as he faced Tony.

“Really, we’re fine,” Tony smirked at them. Harley’s blue eyes were piercing the man with the poise of a grown man. Peter, on the other hand, was still hiding half behind Harley. 

“How old are you guys?” 

“I’m ten and Peter’s eight.”

“Eight and a half,” the smaller boy said. “I’ll be nine in two months.” 

“So those are your names, Peter and Harley. Well, I’m Tony.” The boys nodded just as the door popped open.

“I got some Ravioli for you boys tonight,” the woman said with the brown bags in her hands. Tony noticed that her brown wavy hair and her petite figure rivaled Peter’s. She must be their mother. When she saw him the smile slipped off her face. “What’s happening?” She dropped the bags and rushed toward the boys. “Are you boys hurt?” 

“It’s ok,” Harley said quickly. “Um, Owen scared Peter so yeah.” The woman’s eyes inspected the scene before her mouth twisted. 

“You boys just don’t want me happy, do you? I find one good man who actually doesn’t mind having you around and wants to actually raise you and you want to ruin it.” She huffed. “Forget that ravioli. You two can eat cereal for dinner.” Tony stepped forward. Tony instantly saw the faces of both boys fall. Was canned ravioli that big a treat?

“Ma’am your sons were very scared when I came in. Peter was in hysterics and Harley was being hit repeatedly. You can’t blame them for this.”

“Look, I don’t have to explain anything to you, ok?” She rubbed her eyes. “Those two don’t listen. They’re always skipping school and mouthing off. Won’t do chores, won’t follow directions. Always finding trash and trying to make robots or taking apart perfectly good electronics. Owen’s teaching them to be responsible; brats just don’t like it is all.”

Owen stirred in the room. “My head. Why does my head hurt like this?” When the man opened his eyes his mouth fell into a sneer. “I thought it was a dream. Jumped by a white boy.” 

“Police!” Both boys scrambled behind the couch when the door opened revealing two uniformed officers and a man in a polo shirt with pressed khakis. Their mother, on the other hand, rushed to the side of her disgrace of a boyfriend. 

“Stark? Somehow I knew it had to be you,” the blond man said. 

“Rogers,” Tony replied. “This guy was pounding on the kid when the little one came rushing downstairs to get me.”

“This is just a misunderstanding,” the boy’s mother threw in. “They just got a little scared is all. What little boy wants to be in trouble, right?” Tony watched Rogers' eyes, he’d known the man for almost a decade now. He didn’t have to guess to know what the man was planning, 

“Alright, we’ll take him in for questioning,” Detective Rogers said. “We’ll have to get the boy’s statements as well as yours Tony.” Detective Rogers turned toward the woman. “Do you want to press charges, ma’am?” 

“Oh no, trust me this is just a misunderstanding,” she said. “Really we don’t need to worry about this.” 

“I’m sorry ma’am, but your oldest has a bright set of bruises on his face. We’ll have to press charges with or without you,” the uniformed officer said.

“Mama! Let them take him,” Peter chirped out before Harley pulled him back and shushed him.

“Paige, I told you if these kids messed with me again I’m out. You could have had something great with me, but those runts of yours ruined it,” the man said as he ignored his Miranda rights and was pulled out of the door. 

“No! Owen, it’s ok really. They’re young they just don’t know better,” Paige said. The door closed with the officers leaving and a cursing Owen behind it. The woman turned and glared at the boys as soon as the door closed.

“Why do you boys hate me?” 

“We don’t,” Harley said flatly. Tony could tell by the detached tone that the kid had his fill of Owen and probably his mother.

“Why are you still here,” the woman shot at Tony. He almost thought she’d forgotten he was there like she was the intruder instead of him.

“I want to make sure they’re ok,” he said. “Not every day a kid runs into the street begging for someone to help his brother.”

“Oh, so you’re saying I’m incapable as a mother? I can’t keep my kids safe?” Tony clicked his teeth. The woman scoffed and flipped her brown hair over her shoulder. “If you knew anything about raising kids you’d know sometimes it’s not all peaches and cream. You know what? Since you know so well, why don’t you keep them?” She laughed bitterly before grabbing her keys. 

“Mama?” Peter stepped forward from behind his brother. The kid was so small with his big brown eyes and curls practically swallowing him whole. “Where are you going?”

“To get Owen.” The boy gulped. 

“He’ll be mad at us Mama, please don’t!” Tony’s heart broke for the small boy. “You said we’d watch movies tonight. Please? Can we?” Their mother rolled her eyes and Tony instantly saw the small boy deflate. 

“Yeah, right. Like you two deserve anything,” she spat at them dryly. “If I can’t have a good time, neither can you. Maybe then you’ll learn to behave.” 

“Ma’am you can’t leave them alone,” Tony said injecting himself into the conversation.

“Oh, I’m not. I’m leaving them with you since you’re such a saint and all,” she said before slamming the door behind her. The room was silent for several moments before a small sniffle was heard.

“It’s all my fault,” Peter sobbed. “Mama’s mad and it’s my fault.” His brother quickly went to him and wrapped him in a hug.

“No, Peter it’s not your fault. I made us skip school. Don’t worry. It’ll be ok,” Harley said.  
“When he comes back, we’ll get in trouble.” Harley shook his head making his blonde locks fall choppily against his head. 

“No, I’m going to protect you. I won’t let him hurt you, right? P and K...”

“All the way,” the smaller boy finished wiping his nose on the hem of his shirt. Man, these kids were too cute. “But what if she doesn’t come back tonight?” Tony knew the kid was trying to whisper, but it ended up being an epic fail. Harley winced and tried to cover it up.

“She always comes back, right?” Tony knew he was trying to lead his brother into fooling the adult in the room. It was amusing more than anything. “So don’t worry. We can have some sandwiches. I saved it for us.” Peter wiped his eyes.

“That’s why you got in trouble. Those are from school,” Peter said. Harley shrugged.

“We need them more, so don’t worry ok?” Tony glanced around the small apartment as the boys moved around him like he wasn’t there. Harley used a knife to cut one of the sandwiches into smaller pieces while Peter was trying to cut apples with some weird slicer thing. 

“Did you uh make that?” Peter looked up and nodded.

“Yep,” he said popping the ‘p’. “It doesn’t work like I want it yet, but it will. Um, it’s a proto-somethin’, right Harls?”

“Prototype,” Harley replied putting the sandwiches onto a plate. “That’s what the Rhodes Scholar says.” Then it clicked...that’s why they looked so familiar. They were in the Rhodes-Scholars STEM after school program. Tony sponsored it silently while his best friend ran the program and many like it around the state. He didn’t go there often, but he remembered the two smaller boys who were always glued to each other working on projects that were for kids way older than them. Small world. 

“You know Mr. Rhodes is my best friend,” Tony said. Peter’s eyes widened but Harley looked unimpressed. “We went to MIT together.

“Wow! Me and Harley want to go there. Mr. Rhodes showed us some of the labs before. They were so cool.” Tony smiled before looking down at his ringing phone.

“Tony? It’s Rogers. Are the boys with you?” Tony glanced at Peter who’d gone back to cutting the apples.

“Yeah,” he said not giving anything away to the little ears he knew were listening. 

“The mother is down here raising a fit. We’re going to have to keep her here for a while. I’m going to dispatch DSS, but I don’t know what time they’ll be coming.” Tony stepped into the hall but kept his foot in the door so the boys couldn’t lock him out. 

“I can stay with them, but what will happen after that?”

“I don’t know. With the way things work they’ll probably end up in a shelter for a bit.”

“They want to stay together.”

“I’m sure, but I don’t know if we can do that.” Tony glanced back at them and saw the boys were trying to make Koolaid. 

“Well um, I’ve got an idea if you can swing it.”

“Why does this sound like Fury will have my head?” Tony smirked before walking back into the small apartment. 

“Hey, are you boys eating dinner?” Peter nodded and grabbed the apples and plopped them onto a plastic plate. Tony walked closer and saw the apple was full of brown spots and looked dry. The sandwiches looked hard. The only thing on the table that looked edible was the KoolAid. 

“It’s gonna be yummy Mr. Tony,” Peter said. 

“You guys got this stuff from school?” Neither boy responded. “You can’t eat this, it will make you sick.” Moving toward the bags on the counter Tony started to peak in, but Harley pulled it away from him. 

“We can’t um eat that stuff yet,” he supplied. 

“What? Why?” 

“Owen says we’re um greedy,” the smaller boy said. “He’ll hit us with his belt if we eat it before he says we can.”

“Peter,” Harley admonished. “Don’t tell everybody our business.” The smaller boy bit his lip. Tony was floored. These babies didn’t need to live like this. He had enough.

“You boys want to get some pizza? My treat.” 

"Hell yeah," Harley shouted. Tony smiled at the blonde little boy with the indignant look on his face while his younger brother was hiding his smile and giggling. 

Oh yeah, these kids were precious.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyyy! Thanks for all of the feedback! I love reading your comments! 
> 
> I'm trying to keep the characters as close to their personalities as possible, but they may have some instances of OOC. 
> 
> This chapter does contain some brief descriptions of child abuse but it's not too graphic. Just tread lightly. It's not a subject I like to glorify but I had to do it to give justice to the heart of the original story. 
> 
> I'm really enjoying writing this so I hope you guys are excited to keep reading!

“So, we can get as much pizza as we want?” Tony was staring at the boys as their eyes traveled across the brightly lit room. Rhodey was right CiCi’s pizza buffet was a big hit. 

“Yes Peter. As much as you want.” The smaller boy seemed skeptical.

“Really? And you won’t get mad?” Tony saw Harley kick his brother under the table. 

“He said we could,” the older boy hissed. Peter’s head dropped and Tony gave Harley a sharp look.

“That wasn’t nice Harley,” Tony said strongly. “He just wanted to make sure.”

“He asks a million questions all the time,” Harley said with exasperation. A small sniffle came from the smaller boy. “I can’t believe you’re crying.” Tony was ready to chastise him again but then a peculiar thing happened. A guilty look came over Harley and he wrapped his arm around his brother. “Hey, I’m sorry. I’m just hungry. Mr. Tony brought us to this buffet. Remember we came here with Mr. Rhodes and the counselors? We can eat as much as we want, ok?” Peter sniffed again. “We can even do the pizza war thing we did last time.”

“Really?” Harley nodded and Peter jumped to his feet. With a smile Tony sent the boys on their way. He smiled happily watching them run back and forth filling their plates up with food to the brim. 

With a smile on his face Tony watched the boys switch slices and dare the other one to eat it. He had to admit that he was concerned how much they were eating. Each of them has probably ten slices if not more. He wasn’t planning on stopping them, but it broke his heart. 

“Hot!” Peter gasped reaching for his soda. Tony ended up laughing right along with Harley as the buffalo chicken one made Peter’s face turn as red as a cherry. 

“It’s ok,” Tony said laughing. “Drink some soda.” Peter was glaring at his brother above the straw. 

“You know I don’t like hot stuff.” The issue seemed to resolve itself quickly and they went back to dueling like nothing happened. When they were finally full with faces full of grease Tony sent them off with ten dollars each to play the assortment of games that lined the back room. 

“How’s it going?” Tony smiled up at his friends who entered simultaneously. 

“It’s going,” Tony said. Detective Rogers and James Rhodes pulled chairs up to the table letting out smiles. “Any word on their mother?”

“Off the record? Probably a couple of nights a week at most.” Tony scoffed that was nearly enough. “The bigger problem is the boys. Those audio recordings you sent of their perspectives was pretty damning. DSS is definitely going to be involved now. I doubt if they’ll get to go back to her without some kind of state intervention.” Jimmy leaned forward.

“I’ve known these kids for a couple of years now. They don’t have it easy,” he sighed. “You think they’ll get split up?”

“Probably,” Rogers said. “I asked about what we discussed and Fury is trying to make it work. So we’ll see.”

“What about in the meantime,” Tony urged. “I mean, the little one is as skittish as they come. I don't know if they’ll be ok in some of those crappy little hole in the wall shelters.”

“We may not have a choice,” Rogers leveled. 

“Come on, Steve. There’s got to be something we can do.”

“I’ve done my part, maybe Nat can help,” Steve replied. Tony winced. Natasha was one of a kind. Cold, calculated, and one of the best attorneys Tony had ever seen. She was so good she advised the governor directly. The problem was they’d had a falling out. 

“You’re scared,” Jimmy said with a wide smirk on his face. 

“I am not. Just ugh, between her and Pepper it’s like I can’t keep my…” 

“Mr. Tony?” Turning his head Tony saw Peter with a concerned look on his face. 

“What’s up kid?”

“Well um, don’t get mad ok?” Tony rolled his eyes at the snickers he heard behind him.

“What is it Peter?” 

“Well I um dropped my quarter and this big kid grabbed it, right? So Harley grabbed him and then a big kid got an even bigger kid so Harley threw soda in their faces and um yeah.” Tony stood up. 

“Where is he?” Following Peter the short distance to the back of the room, he found Harley sitting on the floor panting with cake covering the top of his head. The boy looked up sheepishly.

“Hi,” he said sullenly. 

“Kid, it looks like you started the party without us,” Tony said smiling. Peter and Harley let out matching breaths of relief. 

“I thought you’d be mad at us,” Peter said quietly. Kneeling down Tony shook his head. 

“Nope. This wasn’t your fault.” 

“Good, they were douchebags,” Harley said. 

“Let’s get you boys cleaned up, yeah?” Tony stood up before turning back at Harley. “Chocolate or vanilla?” 

“Sugar-free,” Harley replied with a sour expression. 

“Hey, Tony? You’re set. Fury just texted me,” Steve said. Tony sighed with relief. 

“How long?” The man shrugged. Sighing Tony nodded that was better than nothing. 

~/~

Tony rubbed his eyes as let his hair flop into his face. He needed to get a haircut. A couple of hours ago he’d planned to spend the night in his lab working on something for the upcoming Expo but now that wasn’t the case. Now he had two boys in his care. Speaking of which it was a bit too quiet for his taste. Walking out of his room he padded down the hall toward the guest room he’d set the boys up in. 

He expected them to be in the shower, but he found Peter on the floor tracing lines in his carpet. “What’s up bud?” 

Smiling up at him Peter, shrugged. “I’m just waiting.” Tony sat on the bed near where Peter was sitting. 

“What are you waiting for?”

“I can’t take showers yet so I have to let the water fill up from Harley’s shower so I can take a bath.” Tony almost gagged. The kid had to bathe in his brother's dirty shower water?

“Why?”

“Owen said I waste too much water when I play in the tub,” he said sullenly.

“Can't you and Harley take a bath together?” Peter turned to glare at Tony.

“That’s gross Mr. Tony. We’re not babies,” Peter spat out. Tony wanted to be taken aback, but watching the sweet boy speak with such disgust was rather amusing.

“How about this? I have a shower in my room. You can take a bath there, ok?” Peter looked skeptical. 

“I’m not supposed to leave without telling Harley.”

“You’re not leaving, just going in the other room.” Peter bit his lip. “I just want you to have some clean water to bathe with, yeah?” 

“Ok, but you can’t come in, alright?” 

“I wouldn’t think of it.” Tony took Peter into his room and got the water started for him before gently closing the door. 

Walking to the front of the house Tony heard the familiar sound of a key jingling in the door. The most familiar sight in the world greeted him. “Hey Pep,” he said fondly. Walking forward with a smile on his face he smiled wide to grab the brown haired girl who’d stolen his heart.

“Hey, baby! Hi Maguna!” He planted a big kiss on the baby’s cheek for attempting to do the same to her mother. A pair of hardened eyes blazed at him when Pepper stepped away from her once former flame.

“Nope. You miss your appointment to meet me to get your daughter and then you ask me to pick up clothes and toys for boys. Explain.” Tony winced at the sharp tone she was using.

“Well hello to you too,” Tony said stepping back into the house. 

“Explain Tony. What is going on?”

“Well, Pep I was walking to meet you today when this little boy ran into the street begging for help,” Tony told her the entire story and by the end, he could see that she felt the same way he did. “I couldn’t leave them like that Pep. You should have seen it, they were excited to eat old food.”

“Those poor things.” She shook her head. “I can’t imagine a life like that for them.” 

“Me either.”

“So what did Steve say?” 

“This is an emergency type thing. DSS is good for now, but they’ll probably be looking for a family member to take them.” Pepper’s face softened.

“I know you have a big heart, but don’t let this overwhelm you. You’re still in recovery so pace yourself, ok?” Tony nodded. “I’m leaving for Tokyo tomorrow and I’ll see you in three days. Be good for Daddy Morgan.” The one-year-old squealed and clapped. Just like that, the woman was gone. 

“Want to help Daddy get Petey and Harley ready for bed?” 

“Pa! Pa pa!” Tony rolled his eyes. Of course, the kid wanted to watch Paw Patrol. Why would he think she wanted to see him? He set her down in her playpen and put the tablet in front of her. He turned on the baby monitor before grabbing the bags of clothes and toys and running upstairs. He glanced in the bedroom and heard the shower still running. Harley must be trying to get the cake out of his hair. He turned the corner in his room and he heard voices. 

“Where were you?” 

“I was just taking a bath!” 

“Ow! Stop!” He turned into the room just in time to see Harley standing in a towel twisting a part of his brother’s upper arm while tears welled in Peter’s eyes. Rushing toward the boy’s he pried Harley’s hand off Peter. 

“What’s going on?” Harley stared up at Tony while Peter was wiping his eyes. “Well?” 

“I called him when I was in the shower so he could get ready for his bath, but he didn’t answer. I got scared so I jumped out of the shower and I couldn’t find him until he came out here.” 

“Why did you pinch him? That wasn’t nice,” Tony asked still confused. 

“He’s not supposed to leave unless he tells me. What if something happens?” Tony sighed. These kids were dealing with way too much for their young lives. Kneeling down Tony gently pulled both boys in front of him. 

“Harley, Peter didn’t want to leave, I asked him too so you two could get some sleep. I know you’re both tired,” Tony said. 

“Oh,” Harley said softly.

“Look, I know you’re the big brother and you want to look out for him, but you can’t treat him like that. He has feelings too. You don’t like being hurt, so don’t hurt your brother ok?” 

“It’s ok Mr. Tony. Mama does it too. I shoulda stayed and not come in here. I know better,” Peter said with a slightly clogged nose. 

“Listen to me ok? You two should be best friends. You look out for each other ok? Harley, you’re older and you know more so you can help like that and Peter you’re resourceful so you can help that way. If you two are fighting then you’re only half as strong. Get it?” 

“I hear you Mr. Tony, but this works for us,” Harley said. "I gotta be the older brother and keep him safe." He turned toward Peter. “I shouldn’t have gotten mad though. I was just scared.”

“It’s ok Harls,” Peter said rubbing the now red spot on his arm. 

“You can keep the blankets tonight, ok? I won’t need them,” Harley said softly. Man, these kids were melting his heart. Tony noticed there was cake still in Harley’s hair. 

“Hey bud, there's a bag with some clothes in there for you. Take them back in the guest room and finish your shower ok?” Harley nodded and turned to do just that. Without missing a beat Peter wrapped the towel tighter around himself and followed his older brother out of the room. 

Tony was almost forty years old when he became a parent and it scared him senseless. How could this kid do it at ten?

~/~

Tony yawned as he rubbed his daughter’s back as she lay against his chest. He had settled the boys into the guest room an hour ago and hadn’t heard anything from them in a while. After an annoying day full of meetings and unexpected surprises he was ready to pass out. Morgan would be at the butt crack of dawn with her yammering so he really wanted to get sleep. 

Thoughts crowded his mind. He’d only met the boys hours before and yet they had his heart clenched in their little hands. Peter’s toothy grin was enough to make Tony’s heart melt. He was tentative and shy in a way that Tony never got to be. It was like he was this little piece of shiny porcelain that Tony wanted to polish and cherish. His brother, on the other hand, carried the world on his shoulders. He was a bit like the Artful Dodger, a child thrust into a world that was too big for him in order to survive. With a quick wit and a hellish fire drive to survive Harley was something all his own. He wasn’t very big, but he made up in attitude what he lacked in stature. It was hard to comprehend that he was probably only a year and a half older than Peter yet he acted like his sole purpose in life was keeping his brother safe. While Peter seemed like a baby, Harley seemed like a man in a child’s body.

Morgan gave a soft gurgle against his chest and Tony couldn’t stop the smile that spread across his face. He tried to imagine a life with the boys where they could be safe and happy.

A door shutting in the hall and a harsh set of whispers sent him into a near panic. Sighing he let the weight on his chest ground him before he gently sat up. He placed Morgan in her crib that sat near his bed. He’d moved into his room earlier that night. With two extra people he needed to simplify things as much as he could. Slowly he stood up stretching and walked down the hall toward the guest room. 

“Peter it’s ok. Don’t worry,” Harley said in voice Tony probably wouldn’t have heard if the door wasn’t still slightly ajar. 

“No! He’ll be mad for sure!” Tony heard Harley’s gentle yet harsh shushing toward his brother.

“Stop! You’re ok. I won’t let him hurt you,” Harley said firmly. 

“I’m such a baby!” 

“Peter, you have to be quiet, you’ll wake him and the baby up. That will really make him mad, ok? Just take a deep breath.” Tony turned pushed the door to the guest room open and if he thought his heart broke before it did now. The sheets were off the bed and off to the side. Even in the half-lit room, he could see the wet spot on the side of the bed that Peter had been sleeping on. 

“I’m sorry,” the little boy sobbed out. “I went to the bathroom before bed, I swear!”

“We’re cleaning it up so don’t worry, Mr. Tony,” Harley said evenly. Tony could see that the boys were distressed. This was a quick fix much easier to solve than he’d hoped. Turning around he walked into the hallway and grabbed another set of blankets so each boy could have their own plus a new sheet for the bed. When he walked back into the room Peter slowly walked toward him like it was the end of the world. He saw the little boy drop his shorts and slowly step out of them. He turned around right in front of Tony and buried his face in his hands. He could tell the boy was crying as his shoulders trembled in the long t-shirt. 

“Don’t worry Peter, it’s ok,” Harley said sounding like he was about to cry himself. “Once it’s over I'll tell you a story so we can go to sleep. Tomorrow will be better. You’ll see.” Ok, Tony was so confused. He was clearly missing something. 

“W-what are you doing Peter?” That caused another sob to escape the boy’s lips, but Peter didn’t respond. 

“You’re gonna whip him, right?” Tony’s head snapped up to Harley before he quickly let his eyes fall on Peter. It made sense now. 

“No! No, I’m not!” He turned the boy around and gently tapped his shoulder so that he would look at him. Tony’s heart clenched when the brown eyes full of tears looked up at him. “It was an accident. You’re not in trouble, ok?” Tony scrambled toward the bag of clothes he’d gotten the boys. “Here bud, go wash up real quick and change your shorts and undies, ok?” Peter gulped and wiped his face with the back of his hand. 

“Y-you’re not mad?”

“I’m not mad at all.” Peter sniffed and looked to his brother. 

Harley looked skeptical too. “You’re really not mad at him?” 

“No Harley, I’m not. He can’t control what happens when he goes to sleep. Nobody can.” With that Harley nodded and Peter quickly put his shorts back on and ran into the bathroom in the room before closing the door quickly. That was the most disturbing thing Tony probably ever seen. What kind of monsters were these people? The kid was that scared Tony was going to hit him just for wetting the bed? 

“Thank you for not whipping him,” Harley said. The sentence jutted into his thoughts scattering everything away. 

“You don’t have to thank me, buddy. He shouldn't have to be scared of that.” Tony couldn’t imagine treating Morgan that way. In fact, he’d bludgeon any man who ever tried. “Was that how it always was for you guys?” Harley shrugged.

“Sometimes.” 

“Does Peter wet the bed often?”

“Only when he’s scared.”

“When isn’t he scared?” Harley chuckled.

“Exactly.” Tony walked toward the bed and grabbed the sheets to start changing them. He and Harley worked in companionable silence for quite a while until the task was done. Once he set the blankets on the bed Tony noticed just how tired the boy looked. Harley climbed up onto the sheets and willed his eyes open. 

“Just let me know how I can help you boys, ok?” Harley licked his lips. 

“You told that detective if we told you more you could help us, right?” Tony nodded although he didn’t know Harley had heard that part of the conversation. “Well um if I tell you about Owen, will Mama get in trouble too?”

“Maybe, I don’t know.” 

“Mr. Rhodes always helps us.” Tony caught the insinuation. If Rhodey was a good guy then so was he. Harley glanced at the bathroom door and then back at Tony. “Owen hits Peter a lot. He doesn’t mean to wet the bed, or lose stuff, or knock stuff over it’s just how he is.”

“He hits you too?”

“Just sometimes. Mostly it’s when I’m protecting Peter. Owen’s real mean to him for some reason. I take the blame as much as I can, but Owen knows I’m lying and Peter doesn’t want me to get in trouble for him.” Tony’s felt his already broken heart lose another piece. What ten year old should have to carry that kind of weight? “Mr. Tony? Don’t let Owen come around us no more, ok? Can you get the detective to do that?”

“I can try.” Harley glanced at the door again. Peter was coming out. His eyes were still red, but he didn’t look scared anymore. 

“I went again, ok? So no more should come out,” Peter said. Tony smiled and reached for the kid giving him a soft hug before ruffling his hair. It surprised him that Peter tensed like he’d never been held before. 

Oh, these kids. 

“I saw on tv if they can prove kids are being hurt then they can go somewhere safe. Is that right?” 

“Yeah, Harley it is.” Walking toward his brother Harley took a deep breath. 

“We’re gonna trust Mr. Tony, ok? He’s going to help us stay safe.” He put his hands on his brother’s shoulders and lifted the bottom of the shorts up. Tony felt his stomach churn. The back of Peter’s legs were scattered dark blue bruises. He suspected if he looked anywhere else he might see more of the same thing.

“W-what happened?”

“One of Peter’s toy cars was on the floor and Owen slipped on it.” Tony’s eyes bulged. That’s it? “He used Mama’s shoe. I couldn’t stop it, ‘cause he pushed me into the hall and locked the door.” Tony stood up. 

“This is what we’re going to do. Tomorrow we’re going to see the police and get this all documented ok? This way you guys never have to see Owen again.” He saw tension leave boy boys in droves. It was like they finally relaxed after carrying a load for so long. Harley looked ready to cry while Peter pushed himself forward and latched himself to Tony. 

“Thank you, Mr. Tony!” Tony was shocked by this, but he didn’t stop it. He wrapped his arms around Peter and placed a kiss on the side of his head. 

“You’re safe here. Both of you. As long as you’re with me I won’t let anyone hurt you ever again.” With that, he felt Harley move toward him and place his head on Tony’s shoulder.

“Thank you,” the blonde boy whispered. 

Tony smiled, somehow in a span of twelve hours these two strangers had become his boys.

~/~

Tony drove back from the pool with three children who were passed out in the backseat. Glancing in the rear-view mirror he couldn’t help but think just how idyllic the scene looked. His brown-haired baby was sandwiched in between two boys who were lovingly slumped over her car seat. If it didn’t look like destiny then he didn’t know what did. 

His phone beeped with the face of one Steve Rogers. Smiling he let the call go do his custom made headphones he was testing. “Yeah?”

“Hey Tony, I’m uh checking in with you about the boys.” Tony rolled his eyes as he switched lanes. 

“You mean you’re making sure I didn’t kidnap them and flee like one of those nutjobs who let all the animals free at the zoo.” 

“Something like that,” Steve said with a clear smile in his voice. 

“The boys are happy and safe. I took them up to one of my properties and let them rid themselves of that boundless energy.” 

“That sounds like fun.” The two men caught up on pleasantries until Steve abruptly changed his tone. 

“What’s wrong?”

“Well, it looks like the rabbit hole goes pretty deep. Their mother popped positive for cocaine and benzos. She’s going to face a nasty neglect and endangerment case I’m sure.”

“So what does that mean for the boys?” 

“With all the evidence from earlier and those pictures from the doctor this morning are going to make it very hard for the boys to return home. I wouldn’t be surprised if all parental rights were terminated.” Tony felt his breath hitch in his throat. 

“Do you think there’s a chance I could get them?” 

“Tony,” Steve started.

“I know I’m in recovery, but I’m two years in. I haven’t touched anything since then. These boys would have a good life with me. I’m not partying or doing that stuff anymore. I’m keeping it real low key.” 

“Tony,” his friend sighed. “Look, I don't’ know what to say. They usually want to find a next of kin first. I don’t know, but we can make a push if you want, but you need to let the Social Worker know. Wanda has a great intuition about things.”

“Wanda? That’s the chick with the red hair. Her twin is one of your underlings? Petero or Petro, I don't know.”

"It's Pietro, Tony."

"I didn't name him! Just saying his gray hair is freaky. 

“You do pay attention at those galas. Who knew?”

“Shutup Steve.” 

“That’s Detective Steve to you.” 

“You’re such a Boy Scout, Rogers.” 

“You know I’ll help you any way I can. It’s crazy how after only a couple of hours with you, they trust you so much. There's definitely something to be said for that. Just one word of advice though? Don’t get too attached. This is all up to the judge.” They spoke for a few more minutes before saying their goodbyes. 

Turning onto the street he lived on, Tony glanced back and almost jumped when he found a pair of blue eyes looking up at him. “Hey bud, have a good nap?” 

“I don’t take naps, Mr. Tony. I just fell asleep,” Harley said unamused.

“Oh yeah. My mistake.” The boy’s eyes were clearly still sleepy, but Tony figured that he was lucid enough to probably not go back to sleep. 

“Did you have fun?” 

“Uh hell yeah. That pool had jets and a diving rock! I’ve never seen one like that before.” 

“Did guys take swimming lessons? You’re both really good.”

“Mama found us a summer camp that does a bunch of free stuff. They taught us to swim. It’s fun, but we don’t get to go very often. Do you think we can go more?”

“Sure! We can.” 

“Who’s place was that? Peter wanted to tell them thank you.” 

“Well, it’s my place so you can tell me thanks.” 

“Really? Your place?” 

“Yes, that’s my uptown house.” 

“Wow! How come you live at the other house?”

“It’s closer to my job so I can go to my meetings easier. Plus, Morgan and I don’t need all that space all the time.” 

“Maybe if me and Pete live with you we could stay there?” Tony’s heart clenched. Harley wasn’t the one who wore his feelings on his sleeve. He was being open and vulnerable in a way that scared Tony because the man didn’t know if he could live up to the boy's expectations. Everything was so temporary right now. “If you want.”

"Do you want to live with me and Morgan?" Harley gave a shrug, but Tony knew that shrug spoke volumes. “If that time comes we’ll find the best place for all of us.” Harley gave him a soft smile. 

“Mama lost us before, but she got us back. This time, I don’t know. She doesn’t really seem to want us. Me mostly.” Tony pulled the car into the street and parallel parked. 

“What do you mean? I’m sure she loves you.” Harley shrugged.

“She isn’t around much. Like we spend our nights alone most times. When we were little she would make us lunch and ask about school. She stopped though. Now she mostly yells at us and says how much we ruined her life.” Harley dropped his head. “When we're home I'm supposed to help Peter get dressed and make sure he does his stuff. We do good most times but sometimes I just want to go somewhere without worry about him. Like just worry about me. She doesn't like that. She said he's my responsibility." 

"Oh Harley," Tony started, but the boy kept going like he was in a trance of sorts. 

"When I don't keep him out of her way I get it bad. That's why I gotta keep him near me. I'll get whipped if I don't." Harley ran his hands through his hair. "Sometimes when she gets real mad at me she says she’ll take Peter when I'm sleeping and leave me all alone.”

Tony really hated these people. No wonder Harley was wound so tight all the time. 

Reaching out he put his hand on Harley’s blonde spikes. He was kind of regretting getting them haircuts because boy did Harley look way older now, but the smile on the boy’s face in the salon was enough to make him move past his own desires.

“Hey, she's wrong. It's not your job to take care of Peter. That's hers and if she doesn't want you, boys, around then something is definitely wrong with her. You’re a great kid and anybody would be crazy to not want you. If you were my kid then I’d never let you go.” Looking up Harley gave the man a soft smile. 

"You mean it?" 

"Of course." Leaning down in his seat Tony tried to get eye contact with the blue-eyed boy. He really wanted him to hear and believe what he was about to say. "As long as you're here I want you to just be a kid ok? Don't worry about Peter or anything like that. I'll handle it. You just take care of you."

"I don't know. What if something happens?"

"Then, I'll take care of it." Harley seemed skeptical, but he nodded. 

"You won't get mad if I want to watch TV by myself?" 

"No, I won't. In fact, if you tell me, I'll make sure your brother has something to do so you can enjoy yourself." Harley nodded and Tony didn't want to press the issue. He'd planted the seed now he just had to see if it would take root. “I'm thinking, if they stay asleep I think we can work on your potato gun model for about an hour or so. Just you and me.” 

Instantly Harley perked up. “Really?”

“Yes, you want to test out your hypothesis, right?” Harley nodded and a smile etched itself onto his face. “I need your help though if we’re going to pull this off, I’ll have to carry Peter. Do you think you can carry Morgan?” Harley nodded. 

Tony pulled Morgan out of the car and gently placed her into Harley’s arms. “Careful, ok?” 

“I’ve got her,” Harley said loaded with confidence and determination. Smiling down at one of the boys who’d stolen his heart. Walking around to the other side of the car, he pulled Peter into his arms. As he walked into the yard with one child in his arms he couldn’t stop the warmth that spread in his chest watching Harley clutch Morgan protectively. Something about this moment felt just so perfect.

Maybe he should look into bigger places one that had a room for each of his kids. 

Yeah, that was it. His kids.

~/~

That night when Tony was laying on his back reading through one of his design options he heard the door to his room crack open. Glancing up, he saw a teary-eyed Peter clutching a small pillow in the shape of a wrench. That little gem was a credit to the man the boys now called "Uncle Rhodey" because of course. "Mr. Tony," he said so softly it was almost a whisper. 

"Yeah, bud?" 

"Can I sleep with you?" Tony set his custom made tablet aside and nodded gesturing for the boy to come forward. He pulled his blanket up and let Peter crawl in. The boy wasted no time snuggling into his chest. He was shaking. Whatever happened really freaked the kid out. Without asking he gently wrapped one arm around the boy's small chest. 

"Did you have a bad dream?" The boy nodded but continued to cry quietly. "Want to talk about it?" Peter shook his head violently. "That's ok buddy. Don't worry. You can stay here as long as you need. I won't go anywhere." Tony instantly thought back to the night before. "Does Harley know you came to see me? I don't want him to get scared."

"He," sniff, "told me to." Yes! Harley listened to him. "He said you knew how to make it better." Rolling over Peter looked up at him with big red-rimmed eyes. "Can you? I don't want to be scared anymore." Leaning down Tony planted a kiss on Peter's forehead. 

"You know what helps me when I'm scared? I like to imagine I'm a superhero." Peter's eyes sparkled up at him...yeah he was a pro at this dad thing. "My name is IronMan. I go around saving people who can't save themselves." 

"Like me and Harley," Peter said smiling. 

"Yeah, bud. Like you and Harley."


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am loving all of your kind words!! Thanks for reading and joining me on this journey!

Tony smiled as he flipped the pancakes on the stove. Behind him, Peter and Harley were having an intense Nerf war in the living room. They had been with him for two months and for Tony he couldn’t remember how his life was before them. 

He’d come to relish Peter’s sweet yet clingy nature. He knew that the boy would try to latch onto his front like baby Kangaroo at some point during the morning. Harley, on the other hand, liked his space to create and explore life on his own. While he didn’t mind his brother being around, Tony could see that the toll of being a child-parent weighed heavily on his young mind and he was relishing having a chance to just be Harley. It was never more evident than when Harley agreed to join the 10-11-year-old Robotics team. The change in him on those days was night and day. When he returned Harley was open and funny instead of sullen and determined. Tony noticed that while Harley was flourishing away from his brother, Peter was having a hard time figuring out life without his brother's ever-present influence. He knew that if the judge granted him his wish he’d have to work on getting them to stand on their own two feet. In the meantime, though he’d made plans to get them into separate activities to give them their own space to grow. 

“Breakfast guys!” He heard the clatter of the guns dropping against the hardwood floor and feet scampering toward him. 

He heard Harley trample into the room at top speed with Peter on his heels. “What’d you make us?” 

Harley was leaning on his hands trying to peak across the table. While Peter was politely sitting in his chair bouncing. “Well Spud, I’ve got some strawberries, blueberries, eggs, and pancakes.” Peter stuck out his lip. 

“What about the bacon?” Tony’s expression softened. Peter was the most passionate person he’d ever met. The kid could explode from excitement over getting a scoop of ice cream but could burst into tears if his toast was slightly burnt. It was a full-time job to manage his limitless emotions.

“We had bacon yesterday, Roo. Today is Harley’s day.” He reached out and ruffled the boy’s hair. 

“Is Ms. Pepper dropping off Morgan today,” Harley asked. Tony smiled at Harley who was covering his pancakes with syrup. 

“Yes, she is. Why? You guys plotting against me?” Peter giggled and popped another piece of pancake into his mouth with his fingers. Rolling his eyes he grabbed Peter’s fork and gently set it in his hand.

“Right, fork got it,” Peter said smiling and rubbing his sticky fingers on his shirt. Tony sighed, the boy would need another bath before they left. Great.

“We like Morgan,” Harley said. 

Tony started to cut into his own eggs. “Oh yeah?”

“Yep, it’s like having a little sister. We haven’t had one before,” Peter said. Tony found himself smiling yet again. With each of his boys on either side of him he couldn’t imagine a better way to start his day. He was turning into a real sap. That was for sure. He heard Harley snicker and mumble something under his breath. 

“What’d you say Harls,” he asked. The boy shook his head. 

“It’s just funny, I mean we may not have a little sister, but I kind of do already,” Harley said with a smile on his face. Peter kept kicking his legs and then stopped suddenly. 

“Butthole!” Harley cackled and Peter grew flustered. Tony knew that look of frustration that led to an inability to communicate. Peter was about to burst and it was too early in the morning for this. He wasn’t shocked one bit when Peter threw his pancake at his brother’s face. The splat caused the laughter to instantly still and Tony knew something was going to happen. 

“Boys,” he warned. Before he could stop it, Harley threw his orange juice at Peter splashing on the table and his brother. Peter retaliated by picking up his eggs and throwing them across the table at his brother. “Enough!” Both boys stopped and looked up at Tony. Sighing he tried to not appear as pissed off as he was. He’d learned that boy of his boys would crack if too much aggression was shown. The kitchen he’d just cleaned last night was a mess again. He loved the boys but they were a nightmare to clean up after. There were constantly leaving shoes around, dishes in the sink, making messes, or tracking dirt all over the house and he was so tired of it. “Come on guys, you know it’s not ok to throw food.” 

“Yeah, Peter,” Harley said. 

“Shutup,” Peter spat still visibly upset. 

“No more, ok? Apologize and let’s just finish eating ok,” Tony said trying to rub the irritation out of his eyes..

“Sorry Peter and Mr. Tony,” Harley replied quickly. Turning to Peter Tony waited but the boy had his arms crossed and his face in a pout. 

“Peter?” 

“I’m not apologizing! He started it!” Tony rubbed his eyes again. He found he’d been doing that a lot lately. 

“It’s not about who started it all the time. Sometimes you just have to say that you made a mistake too. So let’s just apologize and move on, ok?” Peter shook his head stubbornly. “Peter,” he warned. The boy shook his head again. Tony sighed and stood up. “Come on,” he said to Peter. Picking the boy up by the armpits he tried to keep him at arm's length to keep him from getting any of the boy’s stickiness on him.

He pulled out one of the chairs from the bar area in the lounge and set Peter on it. “I need you to think about what you did and the conversation we had. I’ll come and check on you in a bit.” Peter swatted his hand away when Tony tried to ruffle his hair. 

“You suck!” Tony laughed quietly as he walked away. Peter was as stubborn as he was sweet. What a combination.

When Tony walked back into the room, he saw Harley sitting at the table quietly eating his breakfast. The eggs were off the floor and he saw the mop was out.

“You tried to clean up?” Harley shrugged. Tony knelt down in front of Harley. “That was a nice thing you did, but you didn’t have to. I would have cleaned it.”

“You work hard already, it was our mess.” Tony reached out to ruffle the boy’s hair. 

“You’re a good kid, you know that?” Harley grumbled a response. “What was that?”

“My mom didn’t think so. My dad neither.” His blood boiled at the mention of their previous guardians. 

“Harley, that’s not your fault. Your mom and Owen didn’t get how special you are.”

“Owen’s not my dad.” The boy replied sullenly. “Paige’s not my mom either. Not really.” Tony tried to hide his surprise. What?

“What do you mean, bud?” 

“My dad’s name is Harrison, he um left me with Paige when I was little. Ain’t seen him since I was four, maybe five. Mama and him dated and he left but didn’t take me with him.”

“But you and Peter have the same mom?”

“Paige’s Peter’s mom, but not mine. I call her that ‘cause she liked it,” he sighed. “I guess Paige felt sorry for me and kept me around.” Tony hummed. “But me and Peter are brothers though. Ok? I don’t care who our real parents are. So don’t tell anyone.”

“I won’t bud, your secret’s safe with me.” 

“I know,” Harley said smiling. “Can I um go to the contest tonight? Me and some of the kids want to see the older kids race.” Harley bit his lip, “Without Peter.” 

“Yeah, that’s fine. I’ll have Morgan so the three of us can do something until it’s over.” Tony heard sniffles and small footsteps behind him. 

“Mr. Tony?” Turning around he saw Peter red face and with fat tears streaming down his cheeks. Unable to help it he crossed the room and pulled Peter into his arms he winced when he felt the sticky syrup press against his designer dress shirt. “I’m sorry! I won’t be bad no more. I’ll be good.” Tony gently patted the boy’s back and tried to console him. Just like always Peter tightly wrapped his legs and arms around Tony’s torso and held on for dear life. Unable to stop it, he just smiled. Peter was his little kangaroo baby.

~/~

That evening Tony found himself in a frozen yogurt place with his two youngest kids. Morgan was clapping happily every time Tony gave her a scoop while Peter was bouncing next to the table and singing a song about dinosaurs complete with rawrs. 

He’d dropped Harley off an hour earlier at the club so he could have fun with his friends. It warmed his heart to see the boy dart out of the car without checking on his brother. He won Harley’s respect and trust and he didn’t plan on relinquishing that anytime soon. “Bounce machine, why don’t you settle down and eat some more, ok? I don’t want you to get sick.”

“I want to jump it’s like there’s a party inside of me that I can’t let out!” Tony rolled his eyes.

“Oh sure. Well, I guess I’ll just have to take Morgan to the play area by herself while you sit and let your yogurt digest,” he suggested. The shocked look on Peter’s face almost made Tony crack his facade, but he held it strong. Peter practically threw himself into the booth and put his hands neatly in his lap. “My Mr. Parker how easily persuaded you are.” The boy gave him a cheeky smile but dug into his snack again.

“Mr. Tony?”

“Yeah,” he replied wiping the errant kiwi off Morgan’s face. 

“Do you think Harley likes me still?” Tony stilled and looked up at Peter. The boy had his face staring at the cup of sugar in front of him while he toyed with his spoon. 

“Of course he does. Why would you say that?” 

“He don’t play with me like he used to. He keeps going off with Ricky and Jeff. Before I got to come, but not now. Maybe he’s tired of me.” 

“He’s not tired of you.” Peter shrugged. “Hey, look at me.” Tony had to take a deep breath with the little boy’s eyes shone with tears. “He’s not tired of you. He’s not. Harley is older and sometimes he just wants to play with his own friends. He still loves you though.” 

“Owen said I was a big baby and that’s why no one wanted me around. Is that why Harley won’t let me come?” 

“No,” he sighed and leaned closer to Peter. “Buddy, you’re not a baby. You’re a big boy and guess what? You make mistakes and stuff but we all do.”

“You don’t wet the bed. Harley don’t either,” Peter shook his head sadly.

“You know if I had two Harley’s I would go nuts.” Peter stopped and stared at Tony. 

“Why?”

“Could you imagine that? Think about it. Who would give me all those big hugs I love? Or who would let me help them with Legos?” He gently poked Peter’s shoulder smiling. “Who’d help me cook every night? I’d be all alone. You see what I’m saying?”

“I guess. You could get Harley to do that stuff.”

“Not like how you do it, Roo. I don’t want another Harley, I want Peter.” The boy smiled and nodded.

“I don’t want another guy either. I just want you, Mr. Tony. You’re great.”

“I think you’re pretty great too, Roo.” He opened his arm and peter scrambled across the table to climb into his lap. Tony wasted no time planting a kiss on the boy’s head. “I wouldn’t trade you for the world. I love you just the way you are.”

“You love me?” 

“Yeah, I do.”

“Good, I love you too.” 

~/~

Tony watched the boys wrestle on the couch while he was sitting across the room with Morgan in his lap. She was mesmerized by the boys and thought everything they did was tremendous which she noted by squealing and kicking her legs. After a long day, he was ready to get everyone into bed and ready to sleep. 

Feeling his phone vibrate Tony grabbed it. “Rogers? It’s like super late.”

“I know, sorry to bother you at this hour but this is a pressing matter.” That sent an alarm down Tony’s spine. Standing up he set Morgan on the couch. 

“Watch her for a second, ok guys?” He quickly stepped onto the back porch. “What is it?”

“They’re going to call you tomorrow, but I wanted to tell you. They found the boy’s aunt and uncle. Wanda’s going to pick them up tomorrow afternoon to take them there.”

“There hasn’t been a trial yet or even a hearing? How can they just do that?”

“It doesn’t matter. They’re the next of kin so the boys are going with them.” Tony tried to speak but all that came out were nonsensical splutters. He was going to lose his boys. “You knew this was temporary.”

“I want them, Rogers. They’re mine. We can’t just do this to them.”

“They’re the state’s, Tony. You know that” Steve said sighing. “This is what’s best for them.”

“No, it’s not! They trust me! I’ve been there for them. I don’t understand. There has to be something we can do,” Tony basically begged. 

“I’m sorry Tony. It’s out of my hands. I’m just giving you a heads up. I didn’t want to see you blindsided tomorrow.” Tony hung up the phone and stared at it. 

Dear God, how was he going to tell the boys? 

~/~

Tony tried he really did, but he couldn’t find a way to break the news. He was watching them laugh and joke like little boys at the table and he couldn’t bring himself to shatter their world again. Harley was just really starting to act like a kid and Peter has finally stopped jumping at every noise. What would this do to them? 

He looked at them and tried to clear his throat. “Boys, we need to talk.” He was met with two sets of eyes and bright smiles. 

“What’s up Mr. Tony?” Tony felt his heart rate increase when the trusting blue eyes locked on his. 

“I um found out something. You see well,” he started. Harley immediately started to shake his head. 

“We’re leaving,” he deadpanned. “I knew it.” Peter’s head turned back and forth between him and Harley. 

“Is it true? We have to leave?” Tony opened his mouth but no words came out. Harley pushes himself away from the table and stood up. 

“I knew it. That’s why you let us eat ice cream and cake last night. It was just a goodbye present,” Harley said with a scowl. 

“No, that’s not true,” Tony said desperately. “See I wanted to tell you, but I didn’t know how.” Peter's face was crumbling and Harley just kept glaring at up at Tony. 

“When are they coming?”

“In a couple of hours,” Tony said defeated. He’d gotten the call from Wanda about an hour ago. Harley stepped away from the table. 

“Let’s go, Peter, we need to fill our backpacks again,” Harley said walking toward the hall. Peter stared at Tony like he didn’t know how to say what he wanted to. “Now, Peter!” Scrambling he jumped off of his chair and sprinted after his brother. Tony buried his head in his hands. 

This was terrible. 

~/~

The stupid red Kia sat in Tony’s driveway. Wanda the boys' social worker stood off to the side talking to Steve while her brother stood near the car. Tony wasn’t sure if he should be scared thy they needed an escort or insulted by them thinking he’d be difficult. 

If Tony didn’t know any better he’d think Wanda was glaring at him, but he couldn’t be sure. All he knew was that the boys hadn’t spoken a word to him in hours. He moved past when Wanda stepped into the house to retrieve the boys. They walked behind her quietly like they were still in shock. 

Harley’s face held the makings of a scowl while Peter looked like he’d burst into tears at any moment. “So you guys got everything, right? You won’t be coming back.” The woman’s tone was gentle but Tony felt like it stabbed him in the heart. After Harley rolled his eyes she started to grab their bags and move toward the car. “You should say goodbye now.” That one statement sent Peter over the edge. 

He let out a loud wail and ran toward Tony desperately. Moving to grip him in a bear hug Tony didn’t the same. To his surprise, Harley stepped in front of them to stop his brother from getting near Tony. 

“Don’t touch him. I’ve got it,” Harley said glaring at Tony. He felt his throat squeeze as he watched Harley turn and hug his brother. “Don’t worry Peter. We’ll still be together, ok? P and K...” 

The ruse usually worked with but it fell on deaf ears. “But I want to stay here with Mr. Tony,” Peter whined eyes still locked on Tony. He was looking at the man like somehow he could make it better. 

“We can’t. We have to go. Somebody wants us,” Harley said. Tony knew it was a dig at him and boy did it hurt. 

“What if they’re like those people who hated us?”

“Then we’ll get through it together. We always do. Now you gotta stop crying and say bye to Mr. Tony he’ll be sad if we leave and don’t say bye, but you gotta be strong. No more tears.” Wiping his eyes, Peter took a deep breath and walked toward Tony. 

“I’m going to miss you,” he said lip wobbling. Tony’s heart broke and he watched Peter try and fight the bevy of emotions that were running through him. He picked the little boy up and let him latch onto him. 

“Give me a big squeeze buddy,” he said. Peter gave the best hug he could by squeezing his little limbs tighter than he ever had before. 

“Wow, that was a big hug! Oh, I’m gonna remember that one forever.”

“I’ll miss you,” Peter said with his face buried in Tony’s neck. “So bad.”

“I’m going to miss you more Roo, you can count on that, but you can still come and see me. I’ll be at the club all the time.”

“You promise,” he sniffed out.

“I do. It’ll be like you never left.” Peter wiped his eyes and nodded. He finally set Peter on his feet and the boy instantly returned to his older brother’s side. 

“Come on, we need to go,” Harley said cutting in. Tony gave the boy a soft smile. 

“Can I get a hug?” Harley shook his head but stuck out his hand. 

“It was nice. Thanks,” he said. Only seconds later he put his arm around Peter’s shoulders and shuffled him toward the car. Tony’s feet were glued to the ground as he watched them climb in and buckle their seatbelts. 

“Bye Mr. Tony,” Peter screamed out of the still-open door. “I love you!”

“I love you too,” he said voice hoarse and thick with emotion. He was desperately trying not to openly weep. 

The door slammed shut and the engine revved up. As the car drove away all Tony could see was Peter's little face in the back of the car waving.

He rushed to the middle of the street staring at them hoping desperately that this was a bad dream. Finally though when the car was out of sight he knew it was real. 

The wind rushed passed him and he could hear the distant sounds of people's voices, but none of it mattered. His boys were gone and it could never be right again.

“What about this is for their own good,” he asked dryly. 

“It’s not Tony,” Steve said. Throwing down his phone he watched it crack on the street. He’d made them so many promises! His breathing started to hitch and he felt that familiar burning in his chest. 

He needed a drink. 

Bad. 

“Tones, don’t do anything stupid,” Rhodey his ever-present best friend said. “Think about Morgan.” Tony didn’t care he slid into his car and floored it. He didn’t care about what they said or about them. He just wanted his boys back. 

He must have driven for hours because when he looked up he was in Rhode Island. His eyes were leaking profusely. Turning around he found the familiar pillow that was shaped like a wrench. 

Unable to restrain himself any longer he let out a guttural scream. Clutching the small pillow Peter loved so much he cried for the boys that he’d lost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Which character is your favorite so far? Are there any surprises that caught you off guard?


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyyy! I was so grateful for all of the comments on the last chapter! I know that one was a doozy of emotion...and well you' ll have to see if this one is as well. 
> 
> Please note, another mild recount of child abuse, nothing too graphic but stay careful.

The separation wasn’t so bad at first. Harley and Peter still came around to the program. They built robots and like always Peter stayed glued to Tony. The boy rarely ever played with anything unless Tony could be by his side. It felt familiar and normal for Tony. If he didn’t think too he’d about it it was like they’d never left. Early on when he saw them the wore smiles and were happy as ever to see him. He still couldn’t help but feel that something was off, but with no evidence, he just kept loving on his boys. He’s bought them toys and clothes just like he used to. Things weren’t perfect, but they were working. 

The first signs started with Peter. The boy was quieter than usual and seemed uneasy. Tony didn’t want to press it, but soon he stopped smiling before he finally stopped coming altogether. That sent Tony on alert. Tony and Rhodey and all the other counselors asked Harley about it but the boy just said Peter didn’t like coming anymore. Tony didn’t believe him, but when he pressed the boy shrugged him off. They weren’t his concern anymore, the boy said flippantly. It hurt like hell to hear it, but it was true. Digging in, Tony took what he could. At least when Tony could see Harley he knew things couldn’t be too bad. The boy was his usual self mostly and that had to mean something. 

Then out of nowhere, the worst thing happened...Harley stopped showing up. 

It was a week before the annual carnival-style showcase and they were gone. Tony knew they wanted to go so he tried to reach them but no one would tell him where the boys were. He hacked into more systems than he should have which caused him to get a warning from the newly promoted Captain Rogers to not interfere. Everyone told him to move on, but he couldn’t. Something deep in his gut was telling him that his boys were out there and hurting and he needed to help them. No one believed him, but he knew it was true. He didn’t know how, but he did. 

Tony tried not to panic, but when the days turned into weeks before turning into months he found that he couldn’t help himself. 

Panic was consumed him, but he pressed on. He had to for Morgan’s sake. If he was honest, she was the only thing keeping him sane. Her smile lit up his world and he jumped for joy whenever she called him “Dada!” He peppered her with kisses and loved her to pieces. It still hurt though when she asked for ‘Eyer’ and ‘Hory’. That’s how he survived, by loving Morgan and burying himself in his work. 

Stark Industries was doing better than ever, producing new designs every month. He had everything money could buy and yet he was functionally miserable. 

And that’s how it was for thirteen months. 

It happened by chance when it did. He saw a flash of blonde locks sitting on a stoop near Midtown when he was walking to clear his head after a, particularly annoying meeting. The boy was wearing a ratty hoodie and his skin looked dim. At first, it looked like just another grungy kid, but it was the sullen look on the kid’s face that caught Tony’s eye and gnawed at him. He knew that look.

Tony kept walking, but something was pulling in his gut. He didn’t make it more than ten feet before he turned around and walked toward the boy. The kid’s hair was greasy and his blonde hair was seeping into brown, but it was definitely him. 

“Harley,” he gasped out. The boy barely acknowledged him and kept staring at the skateboard in his hands. “Keener, come on. I know it’s you, kid. How are you?”

“No, kids here,” the boy shot back. Tony knew it was him. It was so definitely him.

“Harley! I’ve been so worried about you guys. How is Peter?”

“What do you care?” The boy rolled his eyes and stomped on the cigarette he’d been nursing. That was when Tony noticed it. Harley now had an earring in his left ear and bruise just under his eye. He face was definitely much slimmer than when he’d last seen him. 

“Hey, um I’m headed to dinner. Want to join me?” He knew that was a perfect temptation. Keener loved to eat and by the looks of him, it wasn’t something he’d been doing often. 

With a noncommittal shrug, Tony set off to find the nearest hole in the wall burger place and settled them in a booth near the back. Harley inhaled two burgers, fries, and a shake before he came up for air. The whole while Tony was staring at him. Aside from the new haircut and the bruise, the boy looked not just grungy, but dirty. His neck had spots of black patches and his fingernails were abysmal. It was like his whole body was covered in a film of dirt and grime. Either he wasn’t getting to wash often or he was skating into mud piles. Knowing Harley though, Tony figured they were both very viable options.

When Harley finally stopped eating he immediately started looking around for something then he settled with his eyes on the now empty plate. Tony knew something was wrong but he didn’t know how to help him or what to say.

“Spud?” Harley’s eyes stay glued to the plate. 

“I should have taken some for Peter,” he said finally. His voice was watery but firm with determination. 

“We can get some for him, ok? Don’t worry.” Harley shook his head. “We can’t? Why not?”

“It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters anymore,” he said voice breaking. “I hate my life. I hate it.” 

“Harley,” Tony started. 

“It’s too much.”

“What’s too much?”

“They are!”

“Who Harley give me a name,” Tony implored. 

“Them. Joe and Melanie. Our aunt and uncle. They hate us. Way worse than Mama or Owen or anybody. They don’t feed us and the house is so dirty. Peter has this thing growing on his head and they don’t even care! They make us clean all the time but it’s never enough,” he said almost out of breath. “Our clothes are falling apart and Peter doesn’t even have shoes that fit him. We’re going to die there and no one will miss us.” That alarmed Tony to no end. If there was one thing he knew about Harley Keener was that the kid was a survivor. His blood was cold in his veins if this kid was giving up then something was horribly wrong. 

“I care Harley. I do.” The boy didn’t reply. He just went back to staring at the glass. “Come on, don’t shut me out. Let me help you. Just tell me how I can help you.”

“Can you come get Peter? Please? I'll do anything. He can’t stay with them. It’s bad for him there.” Harley wiped his eyes. Tony sucked in a tight breath. He had never seen Harley cry. Not once. “No one helped us like you. Just take Peter somewhere, please?”

“Ok let’s just take a deep breath. Tell me what’s going on. That’s the only way I can make this better.” Harley nodded and took a deep breath. When he opened his mouth Tony saw him staring at the tv above their head. 

“Is that the time?” Turning around to look up Tony glanced at his watch and confirmed that it was almost seven at night. Harley cursed and threw himself out of the booth frantically reaching for the backpack he was carrying. “No! No! No!” He was gone before Tony could chase after him. 

Tony slammed his fist on the table. Just like that he’d lost them again. 

~/~

“They are not fine,” Tony growled at the woman across from him. He felt Steve’s hand on his shoulder. “I talked to Harley in person last night and he’s telling me things are not fine. In fact the kid was crying. He's never cried not once in all the times I've known him. ”

“I assure you that they are fine. Both Harley and Peter have acclimated quite well to their surroundings. Peter seems very attached to his aunt. Harley is the more difficult of the two, but he is adjusting well. I can assure you of that.”

“I know Harley Keener and he wouldn’t lie about this.”

“You mean Harley Keener who in the last year has been charged with petty theft, suspicion of credit card fraud, and been in an out of the truant court? He lies so much he doesn’t know the truth anymore.” Tony’s felt his blood pressure rising. “Trust me, his new guardians are helping him succeed in life. Never have I contacted them and they have not been ready to handle the situation and discuss the options.” His blood burned at the insinuation. Just because he didn’t think Peter needed to be in special classes didn’t mean that he was being difficult. The kid was just shy and a bit awkward, but it was manageable. He’d put his foot down and refused to let him be labeled. Apparently, Wanda was using that against him. 

Tony shook his head. “You’re not listening. If you’d just stop for a moment and consider what I’m saying, then you could see that something is very clearly wrong. Please just listen to me.”

“Oh, I am. As much as you think every decision in the world revolves around you, it doesn’t. You have no standing here Mr. Stark." Tony sighed.

"Please consider for just a moment that you might be wrong. Then what?"

"Look, I may not be wealthy or had my education tailor-made for me, but I am not stupid. I am very good at what I do and I care about each child I encounter. Just because these children are a chance for you to get good press doesn’t mean that you can bully me into making a choice that is so clearly wrong. You want the boys for personal gain, but they’re right where they belong. I won’t be changing my mind about this. As I've told you and your counsel before it would be best if you just moved on.” Tony felt like he was going to explode. 

“This isn’t about me! It’s about them! If they're not with me that's fine, but please just make sure they're safe." He felt himself losing control. He tried to calm down. "Please, I can't move on when something is so completely wrong. They're scared and hurting! They need someone to help them. Please, you have to do something.” The woman shook her head. 

"I'll call their guardians and see what the situation is." Tony slammed his fist down.

"Are you listening to me? They're the ones who are hurting them? You think if you just call them they'll admit that they treat them like dogs? Come on!" He felt Steve's hand clamp tightly on his shoulder. 

"This conversation is over Mr. Stark." Tony stood up abruptly. 

“Fine! But if one hair on their heads gets harmed I'm holding you and your little personal vendetta against me directly responsible!"

"I'm sure you will," Wanda shot back.

"I guarantee that this is not the end of this discussion! You’ll be hearing from me! You're gonna have one helluva time finding a job in this town by the time I'm done with you!” Shrugging Steve's hand off his shoulder he stormed out of the office he made a call he should have made a year and a half ago. 

“Nat? It’s Tony. I need your help.” 

~/~

It was just over a week later when he was standing in a weird old park that was obviously no longer in use. Apart of him wondered why they still had the place around if it wasn’t going to be kept up, but that wasn’t his biggest concern. Harley had sent him a very cryptic email very early that morning asking him to be at this very place so he could see what he’d missed. Tony didn’t know what that meant, but he was desperate to get to the bottom of what was going on with them especially after Natasha said she needed something concrete before she could help. 

He'd spend the last week calling every person he knew that could help get those boys out of the hell that they were in. So far he mostly had dead ends. Every person he contacted said that didn't have a leg to stand on unless he could prove there was something wrong with their relatives. Tony knew in fact that there was something terribly wrong, but he wasn't about to but the boys in any more danger just to prove it. He hired a private investigator and prayed that something would turn up, but so far he had nothing. He checked his phone hoping for some form of good news, but all he got were some emails and updates from Pepper about some corporate merger she was pushing through for them. He sighed and stared at the picture of Peter, Morgan, and Harley from that day at the pool last year. Peter and Morgan had big smiles on their faces while Harley gave a knowing smirk. All he could do was hope and pray he would get to have more days like that; ones where all his kids could smile together. 

“Mr. Tony!” Turning around he had just enough time to see Peter running full speed toward him with a giant smile on his face before the boy was slamming into him. He scooped the boy into his arms and laid a big hug on him. 

“They wouldn’t let us come see you!” Tony gave the boy another squeeze. “I wanted to call you but I didn’t know your number.” He didn’t believe it, he made them memorize his number just in case anything ever happened. 

“You know my number, Pete.” The boy shook his head. 

“Aunt and Uncle called it and they said it wasn’t working anymore,” Peter said. Tony rolled his eyes. 

“You told them my number and they called it for you?” Peter nodded. This kid was just too gullible. He pulled the boy's face close to his. "My sweet sweet boy." Peter giggled and Tony tried to let the moment linger for as long as he could. He overlooked the dirt that was caked onto the boy and the lingering smell of urine. All he was concerned about right now was that Peter was safe in his arms. 

"I'm sorry, I should have called you on another phone to check," Peter said apologetically. 

“Don’t worry about that now, baby. Can I have another hug?” Peter didn’t waste any time and attached himself to Tony like a koala. Squeezing the man like a boa constrictor the little boy held on for dear life. It broke Tonys' heart. He was hugging him like he hadn't gotten a good hug in a very long time.

He tried desperately not to cry in front of them. Instead, he chose to pepper the boy’s sweet face with kisses. 

Oh, how Tony had missed this!

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Harley walking across the park in the same pair of shorts and hoodie he’d seen him days before. The walked looked pained, but Tony was just happy to see him alive and well. For the first time in a year, he had both of his boys right in front of him. He was able to breathe when he hadn’t been able to before. When he reached to put his hand on the top of Harley’s head the boy stepped away and glared. 

Harley cleared his throat before saying, “I gotta go do stuff, Peter stay here with Tony and don’t move. I mean it. I’ll be back in an hour.”

“Where are you going,” Tony asked. The older boy didn’t answer the question and pushed back apart of the fence and leaned under it before disappearing behind it. 

“Can we go sit on the swings? I like it there.” Tony nodded, he’d do anything the boy asked. They quickly settled onto two rusted swings that were side by side. 

“So tell me how you’ve been doing?” Peter shrugged and stuck his shoes in the dirt. Tony frowned when he realized those were the same ones he’d left with over a year ago. 

“Ok,” he said quietly. 

“Are you liking school? Harley told me you go to a special school.” Peter flinched visibly before kicking his foot in the dirt roughly.

“It’s ok.” Well, this was going nowhere. 

“Ok, um how about Legos do you have any new sets?” Peter made a face and shook his head. “Anything you want to tell me? I want to just talk with you.” 

“You talk.”

“You want me to talk? Well, ok. Um, let's see. Ms. Pepper and Uncle Rhodey talk about you guys all the time. Oh, Morgan misses you a lot. She keeps asking for you and Harley.” He saw Peter smile while looking down at his feet. 

“I miss her.” Looking up at Tony, Peter leveled the man with a serious gaze. “Harley got whipped last night,” he said swinging a little bit. “Uncle said he’s not going to school like h's supposed to. Ms. Wanda called them and asked why.” Tony clenched his hands on the rusty chain. Oh yeah, they were 'handling' the boys alright. 

“That’s terrible.”

“Yeah, it was real bad. After they made him clean the kitchen floor and I saw back was all red.” Tony made a growling noise. That was why the boy was walking so gingerly. 

“I’m sorry buddy, I wish that you didn't have to see that.” Tony clicked on his recorder on his phone hoping he could get something that would help them. “Pete, does your uncle ever hit you?” The boy shook his head, but Tony could tell it was a lie. “Do you like your aunt and uncle?”

“Not like I like you.” He thought for a moment. “No, I don’t like them. They’re not real nice,” he said harsher than Tony expected from him. 

“What do they do?” 

“They hurt Harley. Uncle says he’s smarter than me and could help him run his business, but Harley doesn’t like what Uncle does. Sometimes he makes him do stuff for him like go on errands and stuff. Harley hates doing that so he tries to do them wrong so he doesn't have to, but he always gets caught."

"What kind of errands?"

"I don't know, he won't tell me. I just know it's got to do with papers and cards. Last week, Harley was gone too long and didn't come back until late. Uncle was real mad because the guy Harley had to meet left. Uncle hit him real bad and made his nose bleed because of it. Harley had to sleep on the floor with no blanket or pillow. I tried to give him mine, but I got caught. I didn't get a pillow or blanket either." Tony growled. That explained Harley fleeing the restaurant like it was on fire. "Says what good are brains if you don’t use ‘em.” Peter bit his lip and started to hum to himself. Tony figured the kid was having a hard time talking about all of this crap. He didn’t want to press the issue anymore than he needed to. They probably had at least something they could go on. 

"It's ok Petey." The boy let out a sigh.

“I wish I could stay with you still. We liked it there. You're real nice and gave me toys and hugs. I liked that," Pete said before he yawned. 

“Sleepy, buddy?” Peter shrugged and started to swing a little. 

“We got up early this morning.” Tony tensed at that.

“For school?”

“No, cause um we had to leave.” 

“Why? Did he try to hit Harley again this morning?” Peter shook his head.

“No, we had to go to the shed. Harley said we gotta hide until they cool off.” Tony stopped his short swing. 

“What did he mean?” 

“Sometimes if we’re gone long enough Aunt and Uncle forget they’re mad at us and then we don’t gotta worry about them hitting us. Oops, him, I-I mean hitting him.” Tony caught the slip-up but didn’t press on it. This could be something he really could use. 

“So you’re sleeping in a shed?”

“It’s not really a shed. It’s um like a place people used to pay tolls at. It’s really neat there are some old coins and some cool books. I bet those people were really bored.” Tony listened to Peter ramble on about the shed and the stuff he’d read, but he couldn’t help the blaring alarms that were whirring in his mind. Harley got whipped for skipping school so badly that he took his brother and fled to an abandoned shed? Things were worse than he thought. 

“Peter!” Looking up Tony saw Harley sprinting toward them. His hair was wild and his arms were pumping as hard as they could. “We have to go! Come on!” Peter planted his feet in the dirt when his brother grabbed his arm.

“I want to stay with Mr. Tony! You said a whole hour it’s only been some minutes! I want to stay!” 

“Joe knows you're gone! Come on!” Unable to resist Harley’s harsh tug this time Peter took off after his brother. Tony wanted to chase after them, but he knew Wanda would spin it back on him somehow. 

He cursed and watched them dash out of his life yet again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ....and that's the chapter! What are you guys feeling? Are you Team Harley or Team Peter or Team Bring the Babies Home to Tony? 
> 
> See you all in a few days!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for all of you who are on this journey with our favorite boys! 
> 
> Heads up...this one has a BUNCH of feels.

Tony was sitting on his porch staring at one of the new pumps he was commissioned to design by the military when his phone rang. He wasn’t really in the mood to talk. After another month of Wanda giving him the run around he was ready to give up on his sanity. Finally after the third set of vibrations he flipped the phone over.

“What is it Rogers? I’m kinda in the middle of something.”

“Tony, something happened.” The tone in his friends voice sent chills up his spine. He sat up quickly and gripped the phone tightly.

Please don’t let him say they boys are hurt. Please! “W-What is it?”

“The boys are coming home.” Tony short circuited. “You there?” Shaking himself out of his stupor he spoke. 

“What? How? Huh?” Steve chuckled but not overly so. “Talk to me Rogers.”

“After your little outburst last month I followed a hunch to see what I could find. I used that recording and ran it across a couple of names in our database. It worked. Joe Duncan as it turns out is known for credit card schemes and running a loan shark enterprise. He works mostly out of Queens so I called a few guys over there. It turns out he’s been using a new runner down there that likes to leave clues.” Tony didn’t know whether to be happy or mortified that Harley was so smart and so reckless. “Just last night we were able to make a big break in the case. When we raided the house we found a large shipment of cocaine and documents that appear to be attempts to steal hundreds of identities. Joe Duncan immediately tried to flee in a car and we gave chase. It ended with him slamming into a pole.” 

“So the boys, what about the boys? Are they ok?” 

“They weren’t at that house or in the car. They’re fine Tony.” He let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. Sagging with relief he slumped forward onto his forearms. 

His boys were ok.

“Where are they?” 

“They aunt tried to flee with them and took them up to a place in New Jersey. We found the place after a tip from a supposed concerned citizen,” Tony didn’t miss the insinuation. Natasha was as much an attorney as she as an apt hacker. She’d come through yet again. “They’re in New Jersey at a station there. They got one of the detectives there to call me. We have to wait for DSS to process it, but Nat did it. They’re coming home to you. The judge has agreed and everything.” Instantly Tony jumped up and grabbed his keys.

“I’ll be there in two hours. Tell the boys I’m coming,” he said already in the car.

“No, it will be a while for things to process. I’ll bring them to you myself.” Tony didn’t care. He was backing out of the driveway.

“I’ve waited fifteen months to bring them home. I’m not waiting any longer than I have to. I’m coming for my boys, Rogers,” he said fiercely. 

“Alright Papa Bear, go get them. I’ll text you the address.” Tony sagged with relief as he accelerated. They were finally his boys for real.

~/~

After the most excruciating two hours in his life, Tony Stark sprinted into the police station. He turned around frantically looking for his boys. “Hey! You’re Tony Stark, right?” 

“Yes, I am,” he said to the officer. “I’d prefer not to give autographs today or anything, ok?”

“Oh, I don’t want your autograph. I really don’t even like you. Well I didn’t until this little boy kept saying you were coming to get him. For the first hour they were here he kept coming to the desk to see if you knew where they were. Kid won’t stop asking for Mr. Tony,” the cop said. “I don’t know what you did, but that kid loves you.” Tony felt his eyes watering. He’d failed them so badly and yet they still loved him. 

“Do you know where he is?” The cop smiled.

“Yeah guy, he’s right over there,” the man said pointing. Tony let his eyes follow the man’s hand and his breath caught in his throat. Curled up on his side was Peter whose head was pillowed in Harley’s lap. They both looked years younger than they were. Quietly he walked toward them, but was stopped by a firm hand. 

“I talked to Captain Rogers, he said you would be coming,” the man said sticking out his hand. Tony shook it in kind. “I’m Detective Sloan, you’ll be taking the boy’s with you?” 

“Yes, I’d like to get them home as soon as possible.”

“Well we’ve already taken their statements so we just want to keep them around for a day or so in case we need to ask any additional questions.” Tony nodded. 

“Captain Rogers already mentioned that to me.”

“Ok, great. They’re all yours.” Turning toward them he smiled. Unable to help himself he knelt down in front of them to get a better look at them. Both boys smelled like urine and looked dirtier than the last time he’d seen them, but at least they were resting. He didn’t want to spook them so he chose to wake Harley first knowing that he’d be able to get Peter up fairly quickly. Gently he rubbed his hand on Harley’s cheek. The boy’s blue eyes popped open at a frighteningly alarming rate. 

“Tony?” 

“Yeah, bud.” Harley gently lifted his knees to jostle his brother which startled Peter awake quickly. 

“Pete, come on, get up.” Sitting up he saw Peter scrunched his face in discomfort and rubbed his eyes. 

“Mr. Tony?” 

“Yeah it’s me. How are you feeling?” Peter rubbed his eyes again and yawned. With those big curls falling into his face he looked like a literal puppy and it was adorable. 

“Sleepy buddy?” Peter nodded still with eyes glazed over in exhaustion. Tony grabbed his hand and helped him off the bench. The kid was still so very tiny. He looked more like eight than ten. Harley fell into step behind them almost as if he was keeping guard.

“Where are we going,” Peter asked as soon as they walked out of the station.

“Tony’s taking us back to Wanda, right?” Tony thought of a bunch of funny jokes to tell Harley, but he decided against it.

“No, you boys are staying with me,” he said, trying to sound more together than he was. 

“You mean like for tonight,” Harley asked.

“No buddy, you guys are staying with me for good.” Peter looked up at him with a wide smile on his face.

“For good?” Tony nodded returning a smile if his own. 

“Yeah, for good,” he said to his son. 

After the short ride to the hotel and a brief conflict with the manager about his room being switched they were finally walking into their small room. It was a crappy little hotel, but it was all he could find on short notice. 

The boys were still half asleep, but he didn’t want them to spend another minute with that filth on them. As soon as he saw the big bed and the safe warm room he felt like crying. It was real. His boys were out of that nightmare. For the first time in almost a year and a half, he would be able to sleep knowing that his boys were alright. 

Unable to contain his excitement anymore he picked up Peter and twirled the boy around in the air. “Ow! Stop! Stop! Please!” Tony’s senses went on red alert and he dropped Peter to his feet instantly.

“I’m sorry bud. What’s wrong?” The bashful boy shook his head and dropped his gaze to his feet. Tony felt sick. Something was really wrong. A million thoughts ran through his head. “You gotta help me bud. Talk to me. Tell me what’s wrong.” To his surprise, it was Harley who spoke. 

“He had an accident yesterday. Melanie made him wear those clothes all day.” Tony was shocked and horrified all at the same time. 

“Like underwear and everything?” Harley nodded. Tony felt himself grow hot with anger. “Is he still in those?” Harleys’ face said it all. Gulping he gently reached for the band of Peter’s jeans and glanced at the affected area. It was red and inflamed. Unable to stand it more he released his hold on the piece of fabric. “It’s going to be ok, bud.” He was going to help prosecute them with the best lawyers money could buy. 

He was PISSED. 

They were going to feel the wrath of Tony Stark. 

He made notes to have Pepper sick the nastiest attorneys money could buy to help bring these people to justice. If he could help it they would never see the light of day again.

Sniffles broke him out of his rage-fueled mental tirade. “It's ok Peter. I’m going to order something that will help you feel better.” With fat tears slipping down his cheeks Peter nodded. Tony reached into one of his bags and pulled out Peter’s wrench pillow. “I think this belongs to you.” Gasping Peter reached for it and hugged it tightly against his chest. 

“Aunt and Uncle said you threw it away! I knew you didn’t!” Tony smiled and hugged Peter gently. 

“I’ve just been keeping it safe for you.” The bright smile Tony got from Peter was enough to melt his heart. “Since we’re going to be here a while, I got you guys some new clothes and stuff for tonight. So go and take your showers and get out of those yucky clothes, yeah?” 

“Go first Peter,” Harley said. Obeying quietly Peter grabbed bag with Legos all over it on it and walked into the small restroom. Tony waited until the door clicked shut to look at Harley. 

“How was it for him?”

“Horrible. They hit him a lot and did some really crappy things. Sometimes they wouldn’t feed him if he broke something or wet the bed. Other times they’d just call him names and make him sit there and take it.” Tony could feel the hurt in Harley’s voice. How guilty the kid must feel. 

“Did they make him wear those clothes to school? The um gross ones I mean.” Harley nodded silently. 

“I got him some stuff from Goodwill that I kept hidden, but they made him go to a different school for kids with special issues. He hated that place. Said they made him act like a baby and wouldn’t let him do anything on his own. His teacher was a real whore. I think she worked for Joe or something because she called him anytime Peter had an accident or spilled something. I mean sometimes if they were being real dicks they’d make him wear those clothes for days and she said nothing. Just went right along with them.” Tony put his hand on his face. This was worse than he thought. “I hate them,” he said fiercely. “I hope they all burn in hell.” Tony agreed completely. He had some people he wanted to burn in hell too.

“Wanda? I called her all the time and she said you guys were fine.” Harley looked surprised at first then shook his head. His own dirty blonde hair was darker than Tony remembered it being. When he looked closer he realized that it was due to the caked-on dirt. He made a mental note to buy some real shampoo so he could really scrub their hair tomorrow.

“They’re good actors. We knew if we said anything they’d hurt us bad once she left. So we just kept them happy. She didn’t surprise us or nothin’ like she did when we were with you. It was always planned and we got to wear clean clothes and they fed us breakfast or lunch so we would look alert. I guess. Every time she left and we didn’t screw up they’d let us have snacks and pizza for dinner.” Harley flopped on the bed. “If they were happy then at least we got fed.” Tony verbalized out his response before he could stop it. 

“What was the alternative?” Harley leveled a glare from his position on the bed and responded immediately.

“You don’t want to know,” he said darkly. Tony dug his fingers into his eyes. He made a mental note to ask Pepper to find the boys a good counselor. He wished he’d gotten one much earlier in life and he didn’t want the boys to suffer the same fate. 

“I’m sorry you guys went through that.” Harley sat up abruptly and looked at him with a hard gaze. 

“Yeah,” he scoffed. “I’m sure you are.” Walking toward the restroom he knocked and went inside. All Tony could think about was how much they’d suffered when they were out of his sight.

He decided he’d never let that happen again. 

Never. 

~/~

With Harley taking a shower Tony fully expected him to keep Peter in there with him until he finished, but to his surprise, the door popped open and Peter came out. The boy was wearing a pair of long pajama pants and a loose-fitting t-shirt. Tony had bought him clothes that were the same size as what he’d worn a year before and they were still too big.

What kind of hell had these boys gone through? 

“Hey, your hair is wet. Bring that towel and let me help you dry it off.” Peter did as he was told and slowly walked toward Tony. His heart broke for the kid. Silently Peter handed Tony the towel and dipped his head so the man could dry his hair. “You know, I miss our talks Roo. Those lit up my days,” Tony said as he passed the towel through the boy’s hair. “Is there a reason why you’re so quiet?” 

“Aunt ‘n Uncle didn’t like it. They said I talked too much,” he said. Tony stopped drying his hair and pulled the towel back so he could look at Peter. The boy’s big brown eyes were staring right at him. 

“They’re stupid. I love it when you talk.” Peter gave him a look that screamed he didn’t believe him. “I mean, who else will tell me about Legos or about the types of frogs in the rainforest or who built which robot last week? You’re like my soundtrack, kid. Without you, I’ve got nothing.” 

“My teacher said I shouldn’t talk if I can’t say something people want to hear.” He made another note to have the teacher and that school shut down by the end of the week.

“Well your teacher is dumb too. You can say whatever you like as long as it’s not about Harley’s terrible hair cut.” Peter burst out laughing making Tony’s smile reappear. “So talk as much as you want, ok?” The boy nodded and dipped his head again so Tony could keep drying his hair. 

Stopping briefly to get his Amazon Prime packages, Tony laughed when he saw that Peter hadn’t tried to do it himself instead he was holding the towel out to Tony so the man could finish. Picking up the towel he resumed his task. “Missed this, huh?” Peter nodded. 

“I like it when you help me,” Peter said. 

“Well I like helping you.” 

“Why did you stop?” 

“What do you mean, Roo?” Tony was confused and set the towel down to look for the ointment for Peter’s ear. He found it at the bottom of one of the brown bags. Gently he turned the younger boy so he could get a good look at his ear. Sputtering out a curse he realized it was even bigger than the last time he’d seen it. He was hoping desperately that he wouldn’t have to cut off all of Peter’s hair to treat it. 

“You left us with them. We knew you would come, but you didn’t. We waited for you sometimes. We’d watch the door thinking you were gonna kick it in and save us.” 

“I tried to save you guys, I really did, but sometimes helping someone takes a long time. I had to follow the rules.” Peter sighed.

“IronMan would have found us.”

“IronMan’s not real, bud.” Peter nodded sadly.

“Yeah, I know that now.” Well, that hurt. Unable to find a good response, he settled for applying the ointment to the gross fungus on Peter’s ear. The boy hissed and groaned as the treatment went to work, but Tony had hopes he could save the kid’s hair. With those ears dooming him to a life without hair would only make him an easier target for those dickish kids he was going to encounter. Peter oblivious to Tony’s inner turmoil settled himself into Tony’s hold and rested the back of his head on the man’s collarbone. At least that part hadn’t changed. Peter was still a kangaroo baby.“I missed you so much.” 

“I missed you more, trust me.” 

“Can we see Morgan soon? I missed her too.”

“Yeah, as soon as we get home and settled you can see her ok?” Peter nodded and yawned. 

“I get to be the big brother now.” Tony chuckled and planted a kiss on Peter’s temple. 

“You sure do, pal.” They stayed like that for a while with Tony rubbing Peter’s stomach gently. Finally deciding that the boy needed to get ready for bed Tony pulled out the box of Goodnights with Legos on the front. Peter slipped out of his arms and glared at him stark with betrayal. 

“I’m not a baby!”

“No, you’re not, but you do need some help staying dry. These will just help you not get any more of those nasty rashes, ok?” Peter’s lip started to wobble. Tony expected him to whine and tell him why he didn’t need them like before, but instead, he was met with a screech and Peter shrieking across the room making him look much younger than he was. 

“Harley!” He ran toward the bathroom and pounded on the door until Harley almost fell on top of him rushing out.

“What? What’s wrong?” The older boy’s hair was damp and he wasn’t wearing a shirt. His brother had definitely startled him.

“Mr. Tony wants me to wear diapers!” Harley's face fluctuated from confusion to irritation to anger. 

“He doesn’t need diapers. He’s ten,” Harley said glaring at Tony and stepping in front of Peter protectively. Sighing the man tried to keep his composure. He was the adult it didn’t make sense to run his decisions by an eleven-year-old yet here he was. 

“They’re not diapers guys. They’re just special underwear with a special lining. They look just like the ones you have on except these will keep you dry if anything happens.” He took a pair and held them up. “See? You can barely tell what they are.” Tony stepped toward the boys who were standing side by side in front of the sink. “These aren’t forever, just until we can get you settled. Remember you stopped having accidents when you lived with me? We’ll get you there again ok?” 

Taking one of them out of Tony’s hands Harley inspected the item. Something in Harley’s face shifted before he spoke. “Just for a little while,” he asked Tony. He nodded before watching Harley wrap his arm around his brother’s shoulder. “Just try them. If you hate them then you can take ‘em off. These don’t have straps or nothing. It won’t be like Joe ‘n Melanie. Tony’s nice. Ok?” 

“No diapers. Please,” he begged almost in tears. “I hate them.”

“They’re not diapers, Pete. Here feel ‘em.” Reaching out Peter put his hand on the small pair of underwear. 

“They feel normal,” Peter said.

“I told you, they’re not diapers. I’ll wear one with you if you want. Will that help,” Harley asked. “I don’t mind. I just want you to be comfortable.” Sighing Peter shook his head at his brother. Tony marveled at the old boy, he was a master at playing the Peter game. 

“I-I can do it,” Peter said. He looked up at Tony. “You promise I don’t have to wear them all the time?” The desperate yet hopeful look in his eyes almost broke Tony’s heart. 

“Just at night bud.” Peter nodded with a pitiful look on his face. Tony felt so bad for him, but it needed to be done. The rash he had was terrible and he didn't know how the area would respond to more urine. If he was being honest, he thought with all the trauma that Peter might need these longer than he did last time, but he didn't dare tell them that. 

An hour later after bribing Peter with ice cream he’d got the kid to put on the special underwear and finally settle down. Since the room only had one bed he pulled out the sofa bed for the boys and he set them up on a pile of fluffy blankets. He didn’t overlook how the boys were huddled together in the middle of the bed like they’d done so many times before. He wondered if this was how the boys had slept for the last year. 

It had been an exhausting day for all of them and Tony was ready to drop into a deep sleep. Especially after the last thirty minutes or so. The boy had whined for ten minutes straight about not putting any ointment on the area. Feeling like it wasn’t worth it, Tony gave in. Peter lay on the sofa bed looking demoralized and embarrassed clutching his wrench pillow. Harley simply looked conflicted like he didn’t want to believe what he was seeing. He kept his hand firmly around Peter and his body angled toward the door like he was ready to escape as soon as he needed.

A small twinge clamped at his heart. 

Somehow he’d have to get them back to how things were before. 

~/~

It seemed like only minutes later that one of his eyes opened when he felt a finger poke his cheek. Glancing at his watch he realized it was three in the morning. Great. “Mr. Tony?” Popping his other eye open he saw Peter standing near him with his wrench pillow clasped tightly in his arms. He could hear soft sniffles coming from the small child.

“What’s wrong?”

“It hurts,” the boy said trying not to whine. The pain and discomfort in his voice was clear. Poor guy. 

“Oh buddy, I’m sorry. It’s going to hurt for a couple of days until it can heal,” Tony said sitting up. His back struggled in protest. Peter bit his lip and started to make the puffing sound that usually preceded his tears. “I know you don’t want to but if I put the ointment on it will help. Is that ok now?” With his eyes squeezed shut the boy nodded. Tony could see the tear tracks on his cheeks. Sliding out of the bed Tony ushered Peter into the small bathroom and turned on the light. He helped Peter gently get his pajama pants down and winced. The rash was much worse now and if it was anywhere near as painful as it looked the boy was tougher than most grown men. His heart broke for the little boy. “I’m going to put some of this on your hands ok? Rub it in where it hurts.” Peter stuck out his hands and silently tried to do just that. He gasped when he hit an especially sensitive area. “Careful bud.” Tony tried to console him as fat tears started to fall.

“Hurts,” he whimpered as he rubbed it in. 

“I know, Roo but it will help. I promise. You’re doing so good.” Grimacing Peter finished applying the cream and gave Tony a pitiful look but tried to smile. He quickly and carefully as he could he pulled the boy’s pants back up. Gently he touched the boy’s cheek. “You’re such a brave boy and I’m so proud of you,” he said pulling Peter in and kissing his forehead. He gave the boy a strong hug when he heard more sniffing. “We can get pancakes with bacon and sausage for breakfast. How does that sound?” With a slight smile, Peter nodded. He helped the boy quickly wash his hands before ushering him back toward the main room. 

“Night,” Peter said looking up at him. 

“Goodnight buddy,” Tony replied climbing into the bed. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Harley’s sole eye watching the interaction, but he said nothing. When Peter didn’t move again Tony took it as a clue.

“Why don’t you come up here with me? Maybe that will help.” Peter glanced at Harley. “It’s ok. I promise,” he said giving Harley a chance to intervene. To his credit, the older boy kept his ruse up and pretended to be asleep. Peter slowly climbed onto the bed and whimpered with he moved too quickly. “Hang on, I’ve got you.” He gently picked Peter up and laid the boy on his side and let his torso lean against Tony’s own chest. “How’s that?”

“Good,” he said with his head resting near Tony’s shoulder. “Real good,” he sighed. “Much better,” he murmured. Tony gave the boy’s head a gentle pat. 

“Get some rest Roo. I’ll see you in the morning, ok?” 

“K.” Tony smiled and glanced at Harley who was now sleeping soundly on the pullout. Things weren’t perfect, but they were better. And that was good enough.

~/~

Just as the sun was rising, Tony’s eyes fluttered open. Looking down Peter’s face was soft and content. He let a gentle hand fall through the boy’s curls. He let his eyes travel to the pullout and felt a wave of panic when he found it empty. His eyes darted around the room and settled abruptly on the mass of dirty blonde curls laying at his feet. 

Even if all hell was breaking loose, at this moment everything was perfect. 

His boys were with him and they were safe.

And that was all that mattered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What are you guys feeling? Happy? Sad? Shocked? Angry? Ready to open a can of whoop a**? 
> 
> I love your comments and they usually make me smile. See you guys in a few!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyy! Welcome to the party once again! I think you all will just love this one to pieces. See you at the bottom! 
> 
> **AutoCad is the 3D drafting program engineers, architects, and other designers use to render their work in realtime with actual specifications.

Two days later, after waiting for Peter’s rash to clear up Tony was finally able to do the one thing he’d been dreaming of for longer than he wanted to think about...he brought the boys home. They pulled into the driveway and he stopped right in front of the door. 

“Welcome home guys. Let’s get out and get settled,” he said, turning the car off. 

“This is a new house,” Harley said flatly from the back seat. 

“It is! Mr. Tony’s new house is so big,” Peter said smiling and turning his neck so he could see everything. 

“Well, I got more rooms so there’d be more space,” he said feeling nervous for some reason. 

“Planning to have company?” Tony noticed the intense look in Harley’s eyes. Like the boy was testing to see if he was trying to scheme them. He turned around so he could get a good look at the boys. Harley was staring at him with a look of disinterest while Peter was ogling over the size of the house. “Well?”

“Honestly? I was hoping you boys would come back. I wanted a place where all three of you kids could have your own rooms.” Peter gasped.

“Really? Wow! We get our own rooms, Harley!” The older boy rolled his eyes, but turned to look at the house as well.

“Yeah, for how long,” he muttered. Tony chose to ignore it. He ushered the boys out of the car and helped them grab their bags. It surprised him how anxious he was. This was something he’d been dreaming about doing and now here he was. 

Everyone had said he was crazy, but he was right. 

No one should doubt the intuition of a parent. 

Wait? Parent? He smiled, yes that’s exactly what he was. He was the boys’ parent officially.

He got the best vindication watching Peter gasp and smile with each new item. “It’s so clean, Mr. Tony!” Smiling down at the boy, Tony couldn’t stop the warmth that was spreading through his chest. Everything just seemed so perfect. Harley was walking around looking and touching anything he could with what he portrayed as vague interest while Peter had a death grip on Tony’s hand bouncing with excitement at every turn. “What’s that Mr. Tony?” 

“That’s the bathroom, Pete.” He made sure to show them all of the bathrooms in the house and then took them up the stairs. 

“There’s a bunch of bathrooms here,” Peter said offhandedly still looking around. Tony laughed, but it was done by design. More bathrooms in hopes of fewer accidents. Once they were up the stairs, he pointed out his bedroom and then Morgan’s that sat right across the hall from his before taking them to a room at the end of the hallway. 

“This is your room, Roo.” Peter gasped again and rushed inside dropping Tony’s hand. The room was full of bright colors. The walls were a rich blue with red accents peppered throughout it. Peter couldn’t stop himself from rubbing his hand on the green built-in chalkboard. He set his bag down and climbed up the built-in wooden steps onto his loft twin bed. When he designed the rooms last month he wasn’t sure if he should let the boys choose or if he should just go off what he knew about them. When he saw Peter’s face at the built-in Lego area on the floor Tony knew he’d done right. Watching Peter instantly vault off the bed toward the new Lego sets he couldn’t have envisioned a better response.

“Thank you, Mr. Tony! It’s the best thing I’ve ever seen!” Out of the corner of his eye he saw Harley huff. He’d have to get used to the new attitude. 

“Hey Pete, I’m gonna show Harley is room, ok?” The boy nodded. “You’re gonna be ok in here?” Without looking up Peter nodded and rushed to the other side of the room looking at the clothes Tony had stocked in his closet.

“Oh wow a computer!” Tony chuckled as he pulled the door to. 

When they left the room, Tony instantly started to make his way toward the stairs. He hoped Harley reacted the same way Peter did to his room, well at least in his own Harley way. “So, I get the basement?” Tony rolled his eyes. Where was this snark coming from?

“Nope. My workshop’s down there. You, my friend, get the little room underneath the stairs.” Harley stopped midstep. “What? You can make snide jokes but I can’t?” He gently urged Harley forward. They rounded the hall and Tony opened the door. For Harley, he’d gone with much more mature themes. While he had Peter’s room done in bright colors, he did Harley’s in a set of neutral navy blues, grey, and black. He got the same bed he’d bought Peter but instead of a Lego set, he set up a workstation with tools built into the side so he had access to what he needed. He also did some research and bought the boy three of the best skateboard decks with trucks and an assortment of wheels for him to try. Harley stepped in and looked around while Tony held his breath in anticipation. 

The dirty blonde boy gently ran his hands over the small nook and vaulted desk area. He let out a soft hum before letting his eyes pop out of his head when he saw the specs for a skateboard ramp the man had left on the desk. Tony took that as his chance. “I thought we could build it together.” Harley looked up at him and then down at the plans, but didn’t say anything. “So, you like it? If you don’t we can change it around.” He didn’t speak, but Tony could see it in his eyes. Gently he pulled the boy close to his chest. For the first time in over a year, Harley didn’t pull away. “Welcome home, Spud.”

~/~

He started the bedtime process with Peter who of course was the much clingier and energetic of the two. Tony grabbed a book off the shelf and held it up for Peter to see. The boy shook his head and continued to build with the Jurassic Park Lego set. After another brief argument over wearing his absorbent underpants, Tony honestly would have been content to let him play until he passed out, but all the books he read said after trauma routine was the best option. So that’s what he was trying to do.

“Come on, Roo, it’s time to wind down,” he said trying to be stern but not overly so. The last thing he wanted to do was to scare him. Peter shrugged and gently set the dinosaur he was making down.

“Can we watch Jurassic Park tomorrow?” Tony made a face, was that really kid friendly? “I love the part when the dinosaur tries to eat ‘em, but the black haired guy takes him away. He was brave.”

“Wait, you’ve seen Jurassic Park?”

“Oh yeah bunches of times. Me and Harley love it.” Tony rolled his eyes. “We like it a lot better than the new one with that um hybrid dinosaur. That ones not real. The kid in that one looks like Harley, but don’t tell ‘em. He says that kid’s a sap whatever that means.” Tony chuckled at the boy. 

“How about this? If you get your little dinosaur butt over here so we can read, I’ll let you watch it tomorrow.” Peter made a face but surprised Tony by running and jumping into his lap. Peter was giggling as Tony tried to readjust the sixty pounds that had plopped down on his precious jewels. 

“Sorry Daddy,” Peter said still laughing. Tony stilled and tried not to show just how much he was surprised, floored, and well overwhelmed. Daddy? All he could do was give the boy a kiss on the head. He wrapped his arms around Peter and snuggled him close to his chest. “I missed this.” 

“I missed it too, Roo,” he said, trying to sound casual. Peter turned and looked at him he tensed himself in the man’s arms. As sweet as he was also extremely perceptive. 

“Is it ok if I call you Daddy?” 

“Of course it is!” Peter relaxed against Tony’s chest. 

“Good. Harley said I should ask first, but I forgot.” 

“Really?”

“Uh huh. I’ve been wanting to call you that for a long time.” This kid! Tony didn’t know how he was going to handle it. He wiped his eyes and took a deep breath. He didn’t want Harley to feel displaced. 

“Did um Harley know you wanted to do that?” Peter hummed an affirmative and started playing with Tony’s arm hairs.

“He said I could if I wanted to, but he wasn’t gonna.” Tony took that as a victory of sorts. It was probably as close to him getting approval from Harley as he would get. “So you’re gonna read to me?” 

“Nope, you’re gonna read to me, bud.” Peter stuck out his lip. 

“Can’t you just tell me an IronMan story?” Tony looked at him.

“I thought you didn’t believe in IronMan anymore?” Peter smiled at him with his innocent look that melted him instantly.

“You’re IronMan, Daddy. I believe in you.” A frog formed right in the back of Tony’s throat. Oh, this little boy! He wanted to cry and squeeze him all at the same time, but he couldn't do that. He had to press on. If he made a big deal about it Peter might develop a complex or at least that’s what he’d read somewhere. 

Focus Tony, focus. 

“I know uh they told you that you didn’t need to talk, but I want you to forget everything they said. You have a voice and I want you to use it.” Peter pouted and placed a firm scowl on his face. “How about this, for every book you read I’ll buy you a new Lego set?” Peter turned and looked at him and grabbed the book out of his hands.

“I am on my m-mountain in a tree home that people have p-passed without ever k-know-ing that I am here,” he started to read. Settling in Tony listened to his youngest son read while gently ran his hands through the boy’s hair. 

His heart was so full.

~/~

Quietly Tony shut the door to Peter’s room and sighed with relief. The kid was just too much. He was so vibrant and it literally took him almost an hour to get the boy finally off to sleep. 

With a gentle bounce he headed downstairs to check on Harley. He wasn’t sure how he’d handle bedtime for Harley. The boy had never really wanted much help with getting to sleep. He preferred to do it all on his own. For the first couple of weeks he’d had them sharing that bed in the guestroom so it was all kind of done together, but once he got them bunk beds Harley preferred to stay on his bunk up top and let Tony do all the ‘baby’ stuff with Peter. Tony didn’t know if that was due to the lies people had told him about his value or just his preference. He figured that time would tell. 

Still though, he didn’t want to alienate Harley so at the very least he could make his presence known to the boy and let him make his decision from there. 

Knocking on the door he found Harley laying on his side on the bed toying with one of the skateboards he’d got him. “Hey Spud, you ready for bed?”

“It’s still early,” he said not looking up. 

“It’s nine Harley. You’ve got to rest.” The boy huffed and rolled his eyes. Tony felt himself getting a bit hot under the collar. He could handle a lot of things but he really hated Harley’s attitude. 

“Look. I don’t need a bedtime. Save that for Morgan and Peter.” Tony stuck his hand in his pants pocket and twirled the small screwdriver he always kept on him. Looking around the room he saw Harley had unpacked some of the stuff he’d bought them from the hotel, but still had a backpack packed in the corner. Tony didn’t want to press it. The kid had been through hell in his life and somehow he’d survived. 

“How about this? At nine thirty you’re in bed.” Harley rolled his eyes.

“That’s a bedtime,” he said. “I don’t need one,” he ground out. 

“Bud,” Tony started. 

“No, I know how to handle myself. I’m not Peter I don’t need you telling me how to live. I’ve been doing just fine on my own.” Tony ran his hand through his hair. Harley wasn’t even looking at him.

“You remember when you guys lived with me last year? You guys were in bed by eight.” 

“Peter was in bed by eight, I never went to sleep that early.” He dropped the wrench and glared up at Tony. “Look, why do you care anyway?”

“Harley? Come on, you’re growing and you need to rest.” Harley nodded in frustration.

“Look Peter is ten but let’s be honest, he's really like probably seven or eight, right?” Tony shrugged. Based on his own observations and Jasmine's assessment of Peter’s emotional age that was pretty accurate. Ugh, why was his oldest so smart? “Well, I’m not. He got to be a baby. I didn’t. So don’t try and treat me like one.”

Tony hummed. It was clear that Harley had thought this through and wasn’t about to budge. He’d read somewhere that it was important for him to set guidelines but that he might have to make some adjustments to help the boys feel at home. 

He leaned forward. “I tell you what, How about this? You can work with me in my lab with me for an hour after Peter and Morgan go down. After that, you have to take a shower and go to bed. Deal?” Harley chewed his lip. Tony knew that he was considering it. It was one helluva offer after all.

“Wait? Peter goes to bed at night so it’ll still be nine.” Tony smirked. 

“Closer to eight-thirty,” he said smiling. Harley rolled his eyes. 

“Fine. I’d be dumb to pass up working in your lab. There’s whole Tumblr boards dedicated to it.” Tony smirked. 

“What can I say?” He blew out a breath and looked at his oldest son. A smile crossed his face at the thought before yielding a familiar churning. He had to talk to Harley about what Peter said earlier. 

“Peter’s been wanting to call you dad. If he does don’t freak ‘em out. He hasn’t had one before,” Harley said carefully. “Well I think his name was Richard or something, but he’s never met him. Just don’t freak him out." The boy either wasn't sure or didn’t care how freaked out he’d made Tony. All he knew was that his head was still spinning.

“He did it earlier,” Tony said still not really believing that it happened. Harley snapped his head to look at him. 

“What’d you say?”

“What do you think I said? I love that kid and you too dummy. I told him that was great.” Harley relaxed at that.

“Good. He really loves you. He talked about you every day when we were gone. Just don’t get his hopes up. If someone is coming to take us away you stop it. Don’t let him get destroyed like last time. He cried for a month about leaving you. Kept pissing himself because he was so sad all the time. If this is only for a couple of days like last time send us away now.” That caught Tony off guard. How many times did he need to tell them that this was home?

“This is forever, Harley. It’s not like last time. This is for good.” The boy nodded silently before sliding off his bed to grab a screwdriver of his own. Tony watched him meticulously adjust the trucks on the board until they maneuvered the way that he wanted them to. Even with such a simple task, he could see the dedicated Harley Keener shining through. 

Tony took a seat in the window nook and busied himself with watching quietly just happy to be in his presence. Because of Peter’s in your face-wear his heart on his sleeve-personality Tony often found himself knee-deep in little boy and Harley got the short end of the stick. He made a note to plan some time for them two to hang out together. 

“How come I’m down here?” Tony looked up from the skateboard that Harley had started to apply stickers too. He was spelling his name in weird numerals. 

“What do you mean? Like in this room?” He took a deep breath. When he’d picked out rooms for the kids it’d all made sense. Morgan across from him because she was a baby, Peter, down the hall because he was clingy and not fully independent, and Harley on the first floor. Keener was so determined to be on his own. It seemed perfect. “Are you afraid? We can move you upstairs and you can share with Pete for a while until you’re ready.” Harley shook his head and gave him an insulted look.

“The room is fine, it’s just why here?” Tony didn’t know what he meant. Did he like the old house better? That couldn’t be it. The room was perfect for Harley, it was spacious and gave him a great view of the yard, plus it was away from everyone so he could think.

Oh. 

“Are you mad at me?” Tony was surprised by how little and vulnerable the boy sounded. Harley almost never showed any type of vulnerability. He was hard, chiseled, and guarded. This was kind of unprecedented. 

“No, I’m not mad,” Tony said gently. 

“I know I get on your nerves, but I’m away from everybody. Is it like because you think I’m bad?” Tony tried not to smile at the boy. Harley may put on a good show, but when it came down to it he was just a sensitive as his little brother. The spud had a heart. 

“Come here for a second, bud.” Harley bit his lip and pushed his skateboard off to the side before sitting next to Tony on the seat. Before he said anything, Tony pulled the boy in for a side hug and planted a kiss on the top of his head. 

“Let’s get one thing straight. I love you and every decision I make is for you guys to be happy, healthy, and safe. You, Peter, and Morgan are my biggest priorities and I love you all with my whole heart. Ok?” Harley murmured some response that sounded positive so Tony settled for rubbing his calloused hand down Harley’s arm while the boy leaned into his torso. “I just thought you’d like this room because it’s quiet down here. You can think and play some music and have friends over. I mean of all three kids you were the one I trusted most to be ok on this floor by yourself.” 

“Thanks. I was just worried, I guess.”

“About Peter?” Harley nodded. “You don’t have to worry about Peter, I’ll take care of him. Remember last year? He’s my responsibility now. You can just worry about being Harley, ok? The same rules apply. If you want to hang out with friends or be by yourself you tell me and I’ll work it out.” Tony looked around the room smiling. “I figured down here you can have some alone time and not worry about pesky younger siblings,” Tony swore he saw the relief fall off Harley like a molting skin.

“Yeah, I’d like that.” Tony gave the boy another kiss on the head before standing up.

“Can I get a real hug?” Harley gave him an eye roll before walking toward him with his arms out. Tony wasted no time in pulling the boy for a tight hug. 

“Get some rest, Spud. I love you.”

“Night,” Harley said climbing into his bed. Tony flicked the light off on the way out. “Ugh seriously?” Smiling he closed the door. 

~/~

After spending time getting the boy’s unpacked and ordering items to actually make his house into a home for active children, Tony was feeling rather tired. The day had started just after seven when Peter ran into his room and jumped onto his bed. From that point on he tried desperately to wrangle Peter as he excitedly went from room to room trying to get a feel for his new surroundings. Tony didn’t want to admit that he had to swallow an energy drink just to keep up with the little whirling dervish, but he did. The boy was literally a ball of energy. He was happy that Harley was much lower key and spent most of his day working on upgrading the ramp that Tony had left him the specs for. Apparently, he was now designing a quarter pipe in AutoCad on his new computer. Tony had put the program on there hoping to teach the boy how to use it in a couple of years so needless to say he was fairly shocked. He made a note to have the kid formally tested before they started school, because well wow. 

His original plan was to cook them something for dinner after they’d ordered a pizza for lunch, but then he remembered there was a reason Pepper always sent Morgan to him with premade food. He settled for ordering some sandwiches with fruit and yogurt before calling it a night.

They were currently sitting at the table each finishing up their dinner after climbing out of the pool. They’d spent the last hour of the day in the pool and Tony thought that was the smartest decision he’d made in a while. Even if his back hurt from throwing both boys into the air repeatedly it was worth it to hear their shrieks of joy. Dinner was going famously with both boy’s leaning their heads against their hands trying to not fall face first into their juice. 

“When we finish here, you two can go up to bed, ok?” He expected Harley to protest, but to his surprise, the older boy just nodded and took another bite of his food. 

“You said we were going to watch a movie,” Peter said looking up with more energy than Tony knew he had at the moment. Tony cursed in his head. This kid and his ridiculous memory. 

“Well, you’re tired buddy. I want you to rest. We can watch a movie tomorrow.” Peter stuck his lip out and dropped his head.

“Yeah, ok,” he said sadly dramatically letting himself slump into the chair. 

“Come on, Roo, don’t be like that,” Tony said. Harley shot Tony a glare before he leaned forward in his seat across from his brother. 

“You can watch a movie in my room,” Harley inserted. “I’ll even let you climb up on my bed with me.” Peter shrugged and took another bite of his sandwich. “I bet Tony has all kinds of movies on his tv’s. You can choose too.” Peter didn’t show any type of enthusiasm or even acknowledge that he’d heard his brother. “Come on, it will be just like we used to when Mama lied to us and said she’d watch one together.” 

Well...hell. 

He hadn’t meant to do that. A very clear memory flashed across his mind form the night he’d first met the boys. The sad look on Peter’s face when their mother told them they didn’t deserve anything before walking out on them to go get her child beating boyfriend. He’d gotten the impression then and even more so now that she made a habit of breaking promises. 

He couldn’t let the boys think that’s how he’d be as well.

“You now what? You’re right Peter I said we could do that and we will,” Tony said, hoping this would make things better. “So when you guys finish your dinner we’ll pick a movie and watch it in the living room, ok?” 

Peter perked up instantly. “You mean it? You won’t change your mind?” The expectant look in the boy’s eyes broke Tony’s heart. 

“No Roo, I really mean it,” he said reaching out to brush a crumb off the boy’s cheek. The smile that greeted him send a warm feeling throughout his chest. Peter literally swallowed his juice and jumped out of his chair and ran down the hall. “Where are you going?”

“To get my pillow!” Tony laughed and stood up reaching for the plate with the half eaten food on it. One day he’d get the kid to stop picking at everything. 

“You know he likes movies a lot,” Harley said. 

“I know.”

“Well good then,” the boy said leaving the table as well. Tony sighed as he heard Peter’s little feet scampering upstairs. These boys were still so fragile. Something as small as a change of plans could affect them in ways he never would guess. 

“Daddy! I’m ready!” He looked at the plates in his hands and made an executive decision the dishes could wait until tomorrow. Right now he had a movie night with his boys. 

“Coming Roo,” he said wiping his hands on the dish towel. When he rounded the corner he saw the bright smiling face of Peter peeking over the back of the couch. 

“Ready!” Tony smiled at him and moved just a bit faster to get to this sweet little boy. To his surprise though, it wasn’t just Peter who was sitting on the couch, Harley was laid against the arm with his feet up looking disinterested while flipping through the channels. 

“Alright so what are we gonna watch?” Peter jumped onto Tony’s lap and wrapped his arms around his neck. 

“I want to watch Megamind!” Tony rolled his eyes. 

“You know your Dad’s IronMan, right?” Peter giggled up at him.

“You’re pretend, he’s real,” the boy shot back.

“Kid you wound me.” Tony heard Harley make a noise before glancing over at him. He had the tv ready to select Hunger Games, but he hit the exit button when Peter made his suggestion. This was a parenting conflict. “Is that what you want to watch, Spud?” The boy shrugged. 

“Peter wants to see Megamind. It’s ok,” Harley said looking straight at Tony. He knew that Harley was often displaced and had to miss out on things because of his love for his younger brother and wanting to see him happy. That couldn’t be the case if he was going to try and make them equals. Just as Tony found himself constantly reminding Peter that he was important he realized that he was going to have to remind Harley of the same thing. 

“No, uh how about this we make this a weekly thing? So Peter gets to choose this week and next week you can choose.” Peter turned to look up at him. 

“We can do this every week?” Tony nodded. “Yay!” 

“That work for you Harley?” The dirty blonde didn’t commit right away and that was fine with Tony. He was in it for the long haul. Beside if the boy didn't want to answer right away he could also bring it up the next week. Soon they settled into the movie. Peter was laughing and pointing out random trivia facts for about thirty minutes before Tony noticed the growing drool spot on his shirt. He chuckled and was just about to call it a night when he felt another weight land on his left side. To his great surprise, Harley was leaning into him half asleep still trying to watch the movie. He slid his arm around the boy before he started to rub his hand up and down the boy’s arm. 

“Next week, Mortal Kombat,” he said sleepily. Tony glanced down at Peter and then back up at Harley. 

“I think little man here isn’t ready for all that just yet.” Harley deflated and grumbled to himself before saying it was fine. Tony lowered his voice, “how about one night this week when he goes to bed you and I can watch it?” Harley’s head lifted up to look into Tony’s eyes. The boy looked partially excited and unsure at the same time. “Well, what do you say?” 

“Can we watch the movie in the lab?” Tony smiled at his son and gave the boy a tight squeeze. Soon Harley was a lump of sleepy child on his side. As he looked down at the precious beings he’d fought so hard to get back he couldn’t help the tears that slowly fell down his cheeks. 

His boys were finally home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think that was a nice sandwich of fluff and angst...don't you? See you guys soon!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is well...MASSIVE. 
> 
> In more ways than one lol. I could give you more details, but you can see for yourself.
> 
> Oh an uh...there might a surprise for you at the bottom. Just maybe. ;)

“Daddy, can you help me?” Tony blew out a puttering breath. Turning around he saw Peter still mostly undressed for school even though he’d given the boy an extra fifteen minutes to start his morning. Turning around he knelt down in front of his son. 

Morgan squealed in her high chair. “Hi! Pe’per!” 

“That’s Petey, Morgan Petey. Pepper is Mama,” Tony said. 

A big smile covered the girl’s face. “Petey! Petey! Petey!” Peter couldn’t resist the cuteness either and gave his sister a kiss on her chubby cheek. 

“Momo Momo Mo!” Shaking his head and smiling he spoke to his son. 

“What do you need help with Peter?” Realizing why he’d burst into the kitchen Peter got a serious look on his face. 

“My tie. I can’t get it on right.” Tony tried not to get frustrated. They were running late and the boys hadn’t even finished their breakfasts yet. 

“Ok, come here,” he said kneeling down. He quickly buttoned Peter’s long-sleeved shirt and did the buttons on the wrists. “Remember you’ve got to button your shirt up first then the tie.” Peter nodded as Tony pulled the tie into place. 

“Uh-huh yeah, I forgot.” He quickly helped the boy tuck his shirt in before watching as Peter took an insanely long time to do his belt through the loops. He’d been told by the boy’s counselor, Jasmine, that Peter like many other adopted kids often asked for help with things he already knew how to do was because when Tony did it made him feel safe. As endearing and flattering as it was in mornings like this it made him want to pull his hair out. By the time Peter finished tying his shoes Tony’s patience was shot. He and Pepper had a meeting today that was rather important and he needed more time to prep, or course though his boys had other ideas. “Almost done, Daddy.” 

“Yeah, Roo. Almost.” There was just one piece of clothing left. Tony looked around for it. It wasn’t near Peter’s backpack or lunchbox that were sitting by the front door. 

“Where’s your sweater?” Peter bit his lip and dropped his head. “Peter,” he said sternly. 

“I’m sorry, I put it somewhere but I don’t remember.” This was becoming increasingly more annoying. At first Tony chalked it off to Peter losing things just being Peter, but Jasmine said he had to make Peter accountable for keeping up with his own belongings. He thought only his shrink, Jarvis, liked the words ‘accountability’ and ‘responsibility’ but apparently, they were universal terms for everyday life. Who knew? Here he was hearing it from Jasmine on a weekly basis regarding his boys. In this instance enforcing those meant punishing Peter when he lost or misplaced something. “Please don’t take my playtime,” the boy begged. “I’ll find it, I will.”

“This is the third time this week, buddy. That’s strike three and you know the rules. If you can’t find it when we leave for school you have to go to bed early tonight.” Peter stuck out his lip and started to cry. Tony hated it when Peter cried it was like listening to an animal get skinned. “It’s nothing to cry over, Roo. Just sit down and finish your oatmeal,” he said, trying to distract the boy from falling into hysterics. Pouting Peter slumped to the table and started chewing his the rest of his food slowly. 

Tony tried to not show how aggravated he was, but he was feeling the strain of being a single father more each day. He had three kids with three very different personalities and demands. If Peter wasn’t asking him to help him with his very easy homework, tie his shoes, or help him comb his hair, he was having a meltdown about one thing or another. Just two nights ago he’d had to endure a thirty-minute weep fest because the boy refused to eat lobster bisque for dinner and he wanted something else. When he threw a breadstick at his brother’s head Tony made him sit in timeout so he could cool down. Peter devolved further throwing a full out ten-year-old sized tantrum complete with flailing limbs and object throwing. It culminated with them both sitting on the couch panting before he sent Peter to bed early because Tony’s nerves were shot. 

The whole thing apparently freaked Harley out as well because he found the older boy skating in the small area Tony had cleared for him which was fine except apparently Harley had a stash of cigarettes that Tony had yet to find or knew existed. When he saw the cancer stick in the kid’s mouth he almost exploded. After a dueling growling match, Harley too had been sent to bed early. 

Tony threw himself in bed crying and swearing that he was a terrible father. He knew that he wasn’t cut out for this. His biggest fear was ruining the boys and he was pretty sure he was well on his way. 

“Harley!” The boy grumbled before making another appearance at the table. Unlike Peter who tried to get dressed for school, Harley looked completely disinterested wearing his tie loosely around his neck and his jacket was unbuttoned. Tony tried really hard not to facepalm. He cleared his throat signaling Harley who dramatically rolled his eyes before standing up and tightening his tie and buttoning his jacket. “Why do you make me say something every time?” 

“I hate this uniform. I’ve told you that millions of times,” Harley shot back. “I don’t understand why we can’t go back to Culver Street like last year. At least they weren’t snobs.” Tony took a deep breath like Jasmine said and tried to remind himself that his boys were ten and eleven years old and had the world give them a crappy hand until now. 

“Um, Dad?” 

“Yeah Roo?”

“I think the eggs are burning,” Peter said. Tony cursed before picking up the skillet and throwing tossing the burned eggs into the trash. 

“Is Ms. Pepper coming,” Harley asked. “So you know we don’t keep eating oatmeal morning noon and night.” Peter snorted and ducked his head into his plate to hide his laughter. 

“Keep it up. You’ll both be eating water and bread for dinner,” Tony snarked back.

“Oh, compared to what you make us that’s a marked improvement,” Harley said smiling. 

“Wait! I know where my sweater is!” Bolting out of his chair Peter opened the oven and lo and behold there was his sweater sitting right on the top rack of the oven. The little boy did a victory dance and pulled it over his head before sitting back in his chair. 

Tony had no words. He just stood there gaping like a fish.

“Good save Peter,” Harley said giving his brother a hi-five. Tony was still shook.

“How did it get there,” the man asked perplexed. ‘Peter put your clothes in your hamper after school’. ‘Peter if you take your sweater off put it in your backpack’. How’d that turn into leaving his sweater in the oven? Peter shrugged and smiled at him brightly. 

“Oh, I don’t remember,” Peter said not concerned in the slightest. Tony looked at Harley who looked like he was used to it.

“Then how’d you know it was there?” 

“I remember seeing it in there last night when I came to get a snack,” Peter said still bouncing. “I’m not in trouble anymore,” he said in a sing song voice. “Bam! Gonna watch Youtube! Yes, I am!” 

“You are still pretty ugly though,” Harley said. Peter kicked him under the table and they were off in a nice little yelling match accented with Morgan screaming nonsense just so she wasn’t left out. 

Tony rolled his eyes and put in his noise-canceling earbuds he’d designed just for situations like this. 

Oh, these kids. 

~/~

Tony was sitting in his office in Manhattan watching Morgan babble with Pepper enjoying a nice celebratory platter of sushi for lunch. Even with only five minutes to spare Tony managed to pull off a great presentation and Pepper sealed the deal. Another big military contract was acquired by Stark Industries. 

“So has Peter made any headway with the bedwetting issue?” Tony shrugged and wiped his mouth. 

“Not really. I think he just gets nervous and it messes with him.”

“Are the special underwear helping?”

“Yes, but sometimes he doesn’t wear them or he takes the inserts out. I mean just short of me checking him every night to make sure he hasn’t removed them. I don’t know what else to do.” 

“He’s probably embarrassed.”

“I know it’s embarrassing for him, but it’s driving me crazy. I’m finishing those inserts all over the house. The smell of urine has seeped into every bit of furniture and I can’t get rid of it no matter what I do.”

“Well just keep trying. All the books I’ve read say it’s something you’ve gotta stick out. He’ll get there. He did before.” 

“Well, he didn’t have it nearly as bad with his mom and Owen as he did with these people. I mean getting punished for wetting the bed is one thing, but having to wear his pissy clothes for days on end is another. Did I tell you that he told Jasmine last week that they made him wear like toddler-sized diapers to bed?” 

“That poor baby. I can’t imagine how his little mind is handling all of that,” Pepper said frowning sympathetically. 

“Sometimes after he finds out he wet himself he cries for like hours. Other times I think he’s afraid I’ll be mad and he tries to hide his sheets. God, Pep, I just don’t know how to help him.”

“Just keep being a good dad. He’ll get there. Didn’t their pediatrician say him feeling comfortable is going to help him?” 

“Yeah. I just feel so helpless.” 

“You’re a good dad, Tony. Everybody knows it. Just keep doing what you’re doing.” Tony smiled at the red-headed beauty. He knew that he would never find a woman as amazing as she was. Even after driving her crazy and running himself literally into the ground Pepper has stayed by his side. 

He knew that if it wasn’t for her and Rhodey he’d probably have found a nice cliff and jumped off by now, but with friends like them, he felt like he could conquer the world, especially with two boys he now had to raise. 

“The boys asked about you this morning.”

“Oh did they?”

“Mhm, it looks like you made quite the impression last week during their little sleepover. I leave my children with you for one night and you try to replace me.” Pepper rolled her eyes. “Apparently you wow’d them with your culinary skills.” She quirked her eye at him.

“Oh, you mean by me actually cooking them food instead of ordering take out?” 

“They are not malnourished thank you very much.”

“No, they just have no concept of food that doesn’t come from a can or a box,” she said with dry humor. 

“I’ll have you know I subscribe to a dinner box that sends me premade meals. So there.”

“Yeah, because that’s so different. Those poor boys. Probably won’t even know how to boil water when you send them off to college.” He swallowed another bit of his sushi.

“You could come over more and you know to fix that,” he said hoping she got his insinuation. 

“Are you asking me to mother your children?” He almost choked and started to flap his hand so that he wouldn’t get sick. 

“N-no no! I mean I know we broke up. I get it,” he said spluttering. He looked up and saw Pepper smirking at him. “You’re evil. Why would you do that?” 

“Because I like to see you get flustered.” She smiled and twirled her chopsticks in her hand. “But what were you actually asking me? Because that sounded very subtly like you want me to be around more and not just for the boys.” Tony’s heart started to beat rapidly in his chest. She wasn’t shooting down the idea this time. 

“Well,” he started. “I would actually like it if…” His phone started to ring. Picking it up he saw that it was Windsor Prep Academy. Great. He put the call on speaker.

“Mr. Stark? This is Gwen the boy’s counselor. It appears that Harley has left school before the end of the day.” 

“What do you mean he left school?”

“He’s not here. Our security cameras show him exiting the building during his Language class and he hasn’t returned.”

“How long has he been gone?”

“Around two hours.” Tony felt himself getting annoyed.

“Why are you just now calling me?”

“Harley skips class sometimes as you know. He’s just never left the grounds before. He could have been on the property and just avoiding the class that was next. We wanted to know that he was gone for sure before calling you.” His mind started to race had Melanie or Joe found them? Maybe it was his real dad Harrisson or their mother? 

“Peter? Where’s Peter?” 

“Peter is right here with me actually. We were about to work on his social skills.” He sighed with relief. 

“Can I speak with him?” Tony heard a shuffle of hands. 

“Hi, Daddy!” 

“Hi, Petey! How are you?”

“I’m ok. Ms. Gwen says Harley left.” 

“It looks like he did,” Tony said tracking his oldest’s phone. “Do you happen to know where he went?” 

“Not uh.” Pepper raised her eyebrows and Tony’s head popped up again. The kid definitely knew something.

“Is that so? Alright, well I’ll see you in a bit ok. Be a good boy.” Tony disconnected the call and glanced up at the woman. 

“What are you going to do?” Sighing he popped another sushi piece into his mouth. 

“I’m going to go get Harley and talk to him.” He sighed. “Jasmine says I’ve got to punish him when he does stuff like this.” 

“Do you not want to?”

“No! I want to have fun with them, take them to the race track, build stuff, be pals. This whole enforcing boundaries thing is such a drag.” Pepper gave him a peck on the cheek.

“You Mr. Stark are very cute when you’re all tangled up of your boys.” She picked up Morgan who was starting to do her sleepy whine. “Do you want me to come by when you talk to him? Give him another perspective.”

“That would help me so much.” 

“Alright, I’m going to get her settled for her nap then I’ll be over.” Tony smiled at her.

“Ok, we’re having Thai tonight.” 

~/~

Tony tracked the kid’s cellphone to a skatepark about two miles from the boy’s school. Even without the tracker, he would have known the boy was there. Harley must have seen the silver Audi because when Tony got close Harley looked unsure of himself. 

“I just want to skate,” Harley said staring beyond Tony at the car. Turning around he realized that the boy was probably looking for a social worker or an officer or something like that. 

“Just me, Harley. Just you and me right now.” Harley relaxed a bit but stepped backward toward the ramp. “What I need from you is the truth. Why are we standing here right now in the middle of the day?” Harley shrugged. “Nope, that’s not going to work. I need a real answer.” Tony stared at the boy. His hair was still pretty long and this time he hadn’t wanted to cut it at all. He was standing his pants in wore to school, but his jacket and shirt were off to the side leaving him shirtless skating in the middle of the day. Tony sighed the kid was going to be a lobster by the end of it. 

“Skating helps me think. I needed to get away,” Harley said finally.

“Ok. That’s fair, but Harley you can’t just leave school to skate. It’s not fair to me, the teachers, or yourself.” The boy stared at his feet. It was moments like this when Tony had the hardest time coming down on him. He was very small for his age and he knew that Harley got picked at. If he had his way they’d be the best of friends and situations like this wouldn’t come up, but life wasn’t like that and he had to be the parent even if it seemed to damage the relationship he was trying to build. 

“I learned a new trick, want to see it?” Tony started to object but Harley was already off. He somehow managed to flip his board in the air and land it on a rail before sailing off to the other side. Tony had to admit he was rather impressed. 

“That was pretty awesome kid. I’ve got to say.”

“Thanks,” Harley said beaming that innocent smile at him. This kid made it so hard to be mad at him. Especially when he leveled him with that boyish smile and those bright baby blues. He pressed in though, the kid needed to know what he did was wrong. 

“Now, back to my previous statement. It’s not fair for you to leave school without permission.” Harley rolled his eyes. 

“I’m just skating. Not like they missed me.”

“Harley,” he warned. 

“Those teachers are snobs who think anyone who isn’t from old man money are scum. They don’t even look at me.” 

“That doesn’t matter. They teach what they need to. No one says you have to like them. You just need to learn from them.” Harley scoffed at him.

“Whatever, Tony.” 

“Harley, I get it that you want to skate. I support it. We’ve built like three ramps together at home and I take you to the skatepark as much as you want. You know that. You can skate whenever you like, but not without permission and not during school. Understand?” The boy didn’t respond instead he used his skateboard to grind on a rail near Tony. 

“Harley,” he said, trying to give the kid one more chance before his anger got the best of him. 

“It’s not a big deal. I wanted to skate and I did it.”

“Harley, you left school without anyone knew where they were going. You could have been hurt or something and I would have never known.” That seemed to piss the boy off because he shot his head toward Tony and leveled him with a sharp glare.

“Why do you care? We’re just here for image anyway, right? The Genius Playboy adds charity work to his resume? No more DUI’s nope. I’ve got kids now,” Harley mocked. “Probably counting down the days until you get rid of us.”

“What are you talking about?” Harley rolled his eyes and went to skate another area. He did a kickflip on the wall before stopping skidding to a stop abruptly near Tony. 

“Just admit that you’re setting up some big press tour to show us off to the world.” Tony felt like the kid had slapped and spit on him all at once. How dare he accuse his love of being fake? Not after the thousands, he’d spend to free them from hell or the countless nights he’d spent up crying over them. He scoffed dryly before reaching down and picking up the skateboard. 

“Press, huh? Tell them to get a shot of this,” he said snapping the board in two over his knee. Harley gaped at him like a fish before watching the two halves of the board sail across the park. Tony knew this board was his favorite one. Now it wasn’t. “You want to skate? You get permission first, otherwise, I’ll snap every board you own.” Harley glared at him.

“You’re such a dick.”

“Get in the car,” he growled. 

~/~

He took the boy back to school and made him apologize to his teachers and the guidance counselor for scaring them. They had a long meeting about expectations and responsibility. Tony wanted to pull his hair out. The kid was right these people were stuck up beyond measure. He sent an incognito text to Pepper asking her to help him find a new school for the boys after the winter break. Once that mind-numbing meeting was over, they collected his missed work from the day and his homework for the night. By that time it was nearing four o’clock. Thank God for Pepper who happily picked Peter up from school and took him to get a snack. Yet again Tony wasn’t sure what he’d do without her. 

As soon as they made it to the house, his oldest son pushed into the hall before slamming the door to his room. “Well, that must have gone well.” 

“Oh, completely,” Tony said sarcastically. “I broke his board and yelled at him for a good ten minutes. I think he hates me now.”

“He doesn’t hate you.”

“I’m fairly certain that he does.”

“He’s adjusting and testing boundaries. It’s normal Tony.” It being normal didn’t make it hurt any less.

“Where’s Peter?”

“Upstairs playing with that new 3D puzzle set I think. He came and asked for a snack a few minutes ago.” 

He chuckled to himself. “Kid’s a bottomless pit to be so tiny.” 

“He kind of is. He ate his snack and what was left of Morgan’s. I don’t know where he puts it all honestly.” A thump was heard snapping Tony back into reality. 

“I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

“About Harley?” She rubbed her hand over his shoulders before settling next to him on the couch in the living room. “You’re not going to change anything overnight. Just keep plugging away and creating a home for them. He’ll come around.”

“Hi, Daddy!” Tony looked up to see Peter bounding down the stairs toward him with a bright smile on his face.

“What do you need bud?” The boy shook his head and held out his arms. Tony leaned forward on the couch and set his hands on his knees. “Ms. Pepper and I are having a grown-up conversation right now. I’ll come up and check on you in a bit.” The boy stuck out his lip in a pout. Tony dug his fingers into his pants and tried to remember he couldn’t indulge Peter’s every whim even if his pout did make him almost irresistibly adorable. 

“But-but!”

“Peter I can give you a hug right now, but you’ve got to go and play. How about you go and check on Morgan for me?” The boy shook his head. “You want a hug?” He narrowed his eyes. 

“No!” Turning away he stomped up the stairs and slammed his door. 

“Well, I’m batting a thousand today.”

“You’re doing fine.”

“What have it away? My oldest who’s sulking and probably plotting my demise or the younger one who’s probably crying into his pillow because I ignored him?” 

“I know it’s hard now, but I guarantee you’ll see the fruits of your labor soon enough.” She leaned forward. “You are doing very well Tony. I read in a magazine that kids who are adopted have invisible challenges that other kids don’t have. Think about it you have two kids who are gifted and have been abused. That’s a cocktail for difficult days. Just remind yourself that it’s not going to change overnight. Just keep plugging away.” Tony set his hand on hers. He loved her so much that it hurt, but he knew there would be a good chance that he’d never get to be with her like that again.

“Thanks, Pep.” 

“So what’s your plan for Harley?” 

“I don’t know. Jasmine said he’s trying to find his place in the family, but I really don’t know. I’ve tried grounding him and sending him to his room, but he doesn’t seem to get it, you know? It’s like he shrugs at me and then keeps doing the same thing. He’s just not responding to anything I can think of.” 

“You know at our Mommy and Me class I was talking with one of the moms, she said that her oldest son is gifted and she found that traditional punishments weren’t working for him either. She said she tried removing privileges and doing extra chores, but he just reasoned his way out of it having any meaning to him.” That had Tony very intrigued. Harley was just like that. 

“What’d she do?” 

“She found alternative punishments things that were specifically geared toward her son. She said her son loved to play chess and would do it for hours after bedtime. So instead of banning chess, he had to teach a class of ten kids how to play for two weeks during the time when he had his chess lessons. After that, he stopped staying up late.” Tony considered that. “So you could try having him teach Peter to skateboard instead of telling him he can’t do it.” 

“Have him like teach Peter how to skateboard after school? Peter might hate that. He’s not into sports. I don’t want a trip to the emergency room not when we just got Wanda unassigned from this case.”

“How about having him go to the club with Jimmy but not letting him build anything? Like doing errands or sweeping up?” Tony smiled. 

“I like that.”

“You think that will work?”

“We’re going to find out.” 

~/~

It didn’t work out in fact. If anything it was worse. Harley was snappish and rude to everyone in sight. It got so bad that Tony tried to have the kid hang around Steve Rogers the lifelong Boy Scout to see if he could rub off on the kid. That ended just as poorly with the captain dropping off Harley two hours after picking him up. Tony felt himself growing more agitated with the kid. Especially when he walked into the house with a smug look on his face. If Tony wasn’t so evolved he’d take a page of his own dad’s book and smack the kid a couple of times. 

Over the last month, Harley was getting more aggressive and flagrant with his disregard of rules. Nothing Tony was doing was getting through. Harley simply survived via his own prerogative. Sometimes he went to bed on time other times Tony found him wide awake well after midnight. He was starting to lose his mind a little bit because the kid just wouldn’t listen and he had a smart retort for everything. 

Sitting in his office chair he was video calling Jasmine about the boys’ progress. He tried to do it weekly to stay current on their wide range of developments since he couldn’t always attend the sessions. They were currently discussing his oldest son’s blatant disregard for him and anyone else he deemed as an authority figure in his life. 

“Harley is in a special and somewhat unique place in life, right? He’s eleven but he’s been like an adult for many years now, but he’s also still a little kid. So he’s looking around for peers and he can’t find any because the things he’s struggling with are things they haven’t encountered. He’s probably not giving much regard to the adults in his life because he feels that you’re all on the same level. The things he worries about like clothes, food, shelter, and keeping his loved ones safe are the things he thinks about every day.” 

“That makes sense. So what do I do?” 

“Keep doing what you’re doing. Remind him that he’s the child and you’re the adult. He’ll understand it soon enough. Create boundaries and enforce them. He may act like he hates them, but he’s craving structure. You’re doing good, Tony. Every time you hold him accountable you’re creating normalcy in his world. That’s priceless to him right now. Can I make one suggestion though?” 

“Please.” 

“Find his currency. Every child has one thing they’d hate to lose. Use that as your tool.” 

“I do that already. He doesn’t care.”

“Oh, trust me when you find it you’ll know. Just remember that he’s adjusting to you. He may not show it, but he’s afraid of losing you. He’s never had anyone stick around for him before. By you keeping consistent and making him accountable for his actions you’re teaching him that adults can be depended on. I know it sucks, but you’re doing good Tony. Really good.” Tony nodded. That felt really nice to hear. “Just trust your instincts. You’re a good father. I’m sure you’ll figure it out.” 

~/~

A week later the idea presented itself again when he got a call from Steve Rogers at the police station asking him to retrieve his son. The problem was when he looked at the time it was near midnight. Way later than his son should have been up let alone at some random building painting tags on the wall. 

He was able to get Pepper to watch the younger ones while he and Rhodey headed to the station to get Harley. “You ok, man?”

“No. I don’t know what else to do. If Steve hadn’t pulled him out of processing he could have gotten a court date. I mean the kid has it good now, right? I mean I don’t beat them, they eat as much food as they want, I keep them safe, warm, and indulged. What more could the kid want?”

“Tony, man. Take a deep breath,” Rhodey said from the passenger seat. 

“He knows if he gets caught it could ruin everything. We’ve talked about it. Why is he doing this? Does he hate me?” Tony felt himself spiraling with panic. If Steve hadn’t pulled him out of processing the boys could have been taken away from him. The thought was nauseating. 

“He’s just testing you, Tony. All kids do it.”

“All kids don’t have this much at stake. He knows it. I know he does. He’s too smart not too.”

“Just stay calm. Remember he’s only eleven.” Tony didn’t respond. Instead, he climbed out of the car and walked into the station. The station looked like every other one in New York except this one had his oldest son inside. He quickly walked to his friend’s desk and found his son sitting in a chair in front of the desk staring holes into his shoes. His shoulders were trembling slightly and he looked like he was cold. All Tony could see was that his baby was sitting there in the middle of a world he didn’t need to be in. 

“Tony, so glad you could make it,” Steve said. 

“Where else would I be? He’s my son.” Harley flinched but Tony didn’t acknowledge it. “Do we need to worry about this? Like a court case or anything?” Steve shook his head and glanced at Harley.

“The kids he was with were older and they got away. I talked to the owner of the shop and he’s willing to just call it a day if someone will paint over it. Harley here suggested that you’d be happy to.” Tony felt his blood starting to boil. 

“Is that so? Well, Captain, you’ll be happy to know that I won’t be paying for anything. Nope. The entrance fee for the Tri-City Regional Skate Fest is what will pay our good shop owner.” Harley shook his head in annoyance but wisely didn't say anything. "Harley, tell your Uncle Steve you appreciate his help," Tony urged. 

"Thanks, Uncle Steve," Harley replied in a monotone voice. Tony wanted to strangle the boy, but Rhodey stepped in to gently take Harley to the other side of the room that Tony and Steve could finish their discussion. After talking to Steve for a few more minutes, Tony anxiously headed out of the front doors with Harley trudging along not too far behind him. 

The ride was quiet for the first few minutes. Tony wasn’t sure what to say while Harley was simply staring out the window. Wisely Rhodey had offered to drive home most likely anticipating a yelling match between the father and son. 

Tony finally hit him with the question he’d been waiting for. “Why Harley?” The boy blew out a breath and kept his head against the window. “Well?”

“Not like you care anyway,” Harley shot back. That was it for Tony. His head turned around so fast that he thought he might have given himself whiplash. 

“Why do you keep saying that? Why? What have I done to you to make you think so little of me?” Harley didn’t respond. “Fine, you don’t want to talk then I will. Do you know how I felt when Steve called me saying that you were arrested? My lungs felt like they were collapsing and I couldn’t catch my breath. Harley, I know you know how serious this is. If you were actually arrested then the state easily could say that I’m not a good father and you and Peter would be back in the system.” He saw Harley flinch even though he tried to cover it up. “What you did was selfish. You disappointed me a lot kid.” Harley gaped at him like a fish but pushed a scowl back onto his face and burying his hands in the front pocket of his hoodie. “You have anything you want to say? Because I don’t get this. You snuck out of the house to go and do what? Tag walls...” When Harley didn’t respond, Tony sighed and let the silence consume them.

The whole ride Tony tried to calm himself down. He was so angry and hurt that he didn’t even know the first part of how to handle this situation. It wasn’t one he’d ever thought he’d have to face. 

God, maybe he was a failure. 

When the car pulled into the long driveway, Tony felt his anxiety spike again. He was going to have to discuss this Harley and he wasn’t looking forward to it. As soon as the car was parked Rhodey excused himself to check on Pepper while Tony followed Harley into the boy’s room. Harley immediately started to get ready for bed. Leaning in the doorway he looked around the boy’s messy room. His eyes landed on the broken skateboard that looked like Harley was trying to epoxy back together. It was clear that the kid had a knack for building and engineering. Tony wondered if fate really had brought these two genius kids into his house just because he was one himself. “I know you want to yell at me, right? Can you do it tomorrow?”

Tony was flabbergasted by the little boy in front of him. How ballsy was this kid? “Harley,” he warned.

“What? You want to yell at me and I’m sure you’re going to, but I kinda have a headache right now and you yelling will only make it worse. Plus, you’ll probably wake up Peter and you know it’s hell to get him back to sleep.” 

“Watch your mouth,” he leveled. 

“Tony,” the boy started. 

“Nope. We’re going to talk about this right now. I don’t care what you want because you clearly aren’t worried about what we want.” Harley rolled his eyes and pulled on one of his t-shirts that he liked to sleep in. “We all had to rearrange our lives to accommodate your little excursion so you can humor me if you will...what the hell were you thinking?” 

“I was thinking that,” he started before stopping. “You know what? It doesn’t matter. Don’t you have a meeting or something to get ready for?” Tony blew out a tense breath. This kid and his mouth. He opened his mouth to really lay into his son, but when he looked at the boy’s blue orbs that were clearly exhausted he thought better of it. They were both tired and he didn’t want to do or say something that he’d regret. 

“You stay in your room unless I say you can come out, you hear me?” Harley rolled his eyes and changed into a pair of shorts.

“Aye aye captain,” he said, giving a mock salute. It took everything Tony had to not lash out and start screaming at him. He never felt more like he understood Howard Stark in his life. Staring at the disinterested look on the boy's felt he felt a wave of white-hot anger that permeated his being. 

Scared of what he might do, Tony stepped into the hallway and closed his eyes tightly. He remembered the feeling of the belt against his skin after he’d mouthed to his dad one too many times. The hopeless feeling and the physical and emotional hurt that accompanied it. 

I want you to be better Anthony, his dad always told him afterward. 

God, it made him sick to think about. 

He wouldn't turn into his father.

It’d been almost a year since he wanted a drink this bad. 

He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. 

~/~

The next day started off just as tensely as it had ended. The breakfast table was tense with Harley sulking and refusing to even look at Tony or shockingly Peter. He’d only interact with Pepper or Morgan. 

They had planned a barbecue weeks ago to give everyone a chance to catch up but the timing for Harley’s attitude problem was less than ideal. As he promised though as soon as breakfast was over Tony sent Harley back to his room to continue his punishment. 

Rhodey was busying himself by being the cool uncle playing with Morgan and Peter in the pool, while Steve was being Steve somewhere making sure something was in order. “It will get better Tony,” Pepper said grabbing a tray of vegetables and completely invading Tony’s thoughts. 

“I hope so.” She put her hand on his neck. Tony felt more choked up than he’d been in a while. “I was so scared, Pep. He looked so lost and small. He’s just not built for that. I thought I made him feel safe, but I don’t know. What if I’m ruining them?” He felt her hand gently pull him close to her. 

“You are a great father, Tony Stark. An excellent, wonderful, and extraordinary father. Harley Keener is lucky to have you as his. I know he loves you, he’s just confused right now, but he’ll come around.” Tony nodded and wiped his eyes. When did he start crying? “Well let’s get outside before the boys start spreading rumors about us.” Chuckling Tony grabbed a plate of hamburgers and headed outside following her. 

A couple of hours later, as the sun was starting to set he, Rhodey, and Steve were sitting on the deck enjoying what was left of the late afternoon. It had been a mostly uneventful day aside from a few blips here and there. Peter had endless fun with Uncle Rhodey who loved to indulge the boy. They constructed a homemade slide out of some hard plastic and tarp Tony had laying around. Watching Peter shriek every time he went down put a semi-permanent smile on the man’s face. If it had only been Peter he probably would doubt his abilities as a father a lot less, but that wasn’t the hand he’d been dealt. On those sweet moments when Peter would climb in his lap or latch himself onto the man’s front, he felt like he was the king of the world. 

Now though, as he watched his oldest look longingly at the pool before he stomped back into the house after getting a drink he felt more like a failure than he ever knew possible. Earlier in the day during lunch he’d considered letting Harley have some free time to play with his brother on the fun pool contraption, but that had gone out the window when the dirty blonde had hurled words at Steve that would make any Marine blush after the captain told him he needed to make better choices while serving him a hamburger. Even thinking about it made Tony go hot under the collar. The kid didn’t seem to be caring about anything he said. 

“I don’t know what I’m going to do with him,” Tony said sipping his Sprite. Steve who was leaning back in the chair sat up. Just by how the man squared his shoulders Tony knew he was going to hate what the man said.

“Well, if I had said to any adult what Harley said to me there wouldn’t have been a question about what my dad would have done.” Tony saw Rhodey roll his eyes dramatically. 

And he was right. Steve was so self-righteous when he wanted to be. “Good thing you’re not his dad,” Tony huffed out dryly. 

“Hey, call me old fashioned, but it works,” Steve said sipping his drink. “Never saw me getting arrested.” 

Rhodey snorted and let out a deep laugh.“That’s because we didn’t take you with us when we did the fun stuff Captain Morals.” 

Steve rolled his eyes at his friends. “Yes, we all know what your dad would have done. Ours probably would have done the same,” Rhodey said. “Hell, I know my mom would have. Thing is Tony’s raising his kids different and I respect that. He’s doing what’s best for them instead of trying to fit some parental mold. I see plenty of kids every day and trust me not enough parents are doing that. He's raising his kids the way they need to be raised. So instead of trying to make him change his ways, we as his friends should support him.”

“Thanks, Rhodey.” Tony knew one of his oldest friends wasn’t shy about disagreeing with Tony’s child-rearing techniques, but it was nice to know that he wasn’t alone in the battle.

“I’m just saying,” Steve started. “Kid could use a bit of discipline.”

“Look, I discipline him just fine, ok? I’m not going to adhere to that barbaric style of punishment our parents employed. I just won’t. I’ll figure something out.”

“Well you better, because it was only by chance that I saw him in the call sheet last night. If I wasn’t there this could have been a completely different conversation.” Tony sipped his Sprite again and let himself smile as he watched Peter help Morgan with the painting she was making. A bit of warmth spread through him when Peter looked up at him with a big smile and a wave to match. 

“Tony’s a good dad, Steve,” Rhodey said firmly. He gave his oldest friend a smile in return he just wished he felt the same way about himself.

~/~

When everyone had left and it was just the quiet of the night, Tony had gotten started on the dishes. Peter had helped him for the first few plates before Tony saw him wilting over on the counter he was sitting on. Not wanting the boy to fall and crack his head open he carried him to bed and spent five minutes extracting the octopus from his torso. 

He was now putting the final touches on the dishes when he saw Harley coming out of his bedroom headed directly for the lab. A thought popped into his head and he made a move to cut the boy off. “Nope,” he said crossing his arms. Harley looked at the door behind him and then up at the man.

“W-What do you mean? It’s eight and Pete’s asleep. So it’s lab time.” Tony responded by pulling the door closed and locking it with his thumbprint. “What are you doing? This is our lab time.” Tony only moved toward the back porch. “Where are you going?”

“The pool needs to be cleaned and you’re going to help me.” 

“But this is our lab time,” Harley repeated unsure of what was happening. Tony shrugged and pulled the door to the deck open. “You never take away lab time.” 

“I haven’t in the past, but I’m trying something new.” Harley’s feet were still planted next to the door that led to the lab.

“So we’re not going to work on the hydraulic pump?” Tony shook his head. 

“I will after you go to bed.” Harley’s face dropped and Tony could see the tears pooling in his eyes. 

“But-but you were going to show me the coding process and how it worked.” Tony kept his face neutral.

“Well, that’s not going to happen anytime soon. Go get the net so we can get started.” Harley stared at him with his big blue eyes trying to formulate the words he wanted to say. The boy bit his lip. 

"Can you just whip me, please? Don't take away the lab. I need it," Harley pleaded. Tony felt his heart get crushed in so many ways. Oh, this little boy. He knelt down in front of him and set his hand on the boy's still chubby cheek. 

"I won't do that, Harley. I won't. You're going to have to deal with this as your punishment." He pulled the boy in for a hug that Harley stiffened to before he stood up heading to the pool. "Now let's get the stuff so we can start," he said firmly. "Dejectedly Harley did as he was told and headed toward the closet just off the side of the pool. 

Tony smiled, he found his currency. 

Twenty minutes later after treating the water and dropping in the water treatment tablets and checking the filters, Tony was now observing the newly installed pump while Harley grumbled out complaints as he pulled the net across the water. “Don’t you have a guy to do this?” Tony shrugged but kept his eyes on the underwater live feed. “Then why are we out here,” Harley pushed out in a huff of annoyance. 

“Well I was going to hire someone for a week since he’s off, but you know after your little stunt last night then seemed like a suitable trade.” Harley huffed again but didn’t say anything for the rest of the time. Tony glanced at Harley every once in a while and it broke his heart to see the boy--his son--fighting back tears. 

He knew though, he couldn’t break. 

This was a punishment he had to see through. After everything was put away, Tony ushered his oldest back into the house. Harley looked longingly at the door and then back at Tony. “Not tonight,” he said.

“When,” Harley whined out.

“Haven’t decided yet.” Harley deflated and started to grumble under his breath. Tony pulled out his phone and scrolled to Steve’s number. He handed the phone to Harley. “Call Uncle Steve and tell him you’re sorry.” 

“Why? He was being a dick.” Tony leveled a glare at Harley that shut him up. He was about to scold him when he heard footsteps pattering on the floor.

“Daddy?” Peter came around the corner in a pair of dinosaur pajama pants and a Lego shirt. He looked terribly adorable rubbing his eyes with his fists. Kneeling down Tony brushed the hair out of his youngest son’s face.

“What’s wrong buddy?” 

“Bad dream,” he said. Tony pulled the boy into his arms and let him attach to him like he always did.

“It’s ok Roo,” he said standing up. “Daddy’s here. Want to sleep in my room?” The boy nodded and tightened his hold. 

“Hi, Harley,” he said sleepily. 

“Hey, Pete.” Tony rubbed Peter’s back before he gestured to the phone still in Harley’s hand. The boy sighed and hit the call button. 

“Tony? It’s late. Is everything ok?” Tony raised his eyebrows expectantly at Harley urging him to speak.

“Hi Captain Rogers, it’s Harley. I just wanted to say I’m sorry for what I said earlier.” Tony could hear Steve make a noise before clearing his throat.

“Thank you for that Harley. That was a very brave and honorable thing to do.” Tony didn’t miss the blatant eye roll from Harley but took it in stride. Baby steps he thought as Harley handed him the phone back. 

“Goodnight Harley,” Tony said, putting his hand on the boy’s head. “I’ll see you in the morning for breakfast.”

“Can we go in the lab tomorrow?” Tony just looked at him. “Please?”

“No. Not until I can see a real change in your attitude. When I see you actually respecting people and showing that you feel badly about what you did then we can re-evaluate.”

“How long will that take?” Tony shrugged adjusting his grip on the now sleeping Peter. 

“That’s up to you, Spud.”

The process repeated itself every night for just over a week, Harley came bounding across the house as soon as Peter was asleep hoping for lab time and every night he was met with a different chore. Each day Tony could see the realization that he’d messed up sinking in deeper. After three days of glowing emails from his teachers, answering Tony with ‘yes sir’ and no smart comments, plus getting dressed for school without being asked Tony decided that his boy had definitely started to learn the lesson. On the tenth night, Harley came around the corner with a defeated look on his face. He sat next to Tony at the small table in the kitchen where they ate most of their meals. 

“What are we doing tonight?” Looking up from the newly patented Starkpad Tony smirked. 

“I figured we could work on his new control panel for aircrafts. It would give 3-D holographic renderings in real-time.” Harley’s head snapped up at the suggestion.

“Like the lab, we can go back in the lab?” Tony smiled and nodded. “Finally! That felt like forever.” 

“Just remember this the next time you want to ditch school or sneak out or be rude to any adult.” 

“Every time,” he sputtered eyes big in surprise. “I-I thought it was just because of the police.” Tony shook his head firmly.

“Nope, every single time you break the rules, this is what happens.” Harley sighed, but Tony wrapped his arm around the boy’s shoulders. “Now let’s make up for lost time. I’ve got some cool stuff to show you.” 

Just under an hour and a half later Harley’s eyes were drooping closed as he tilted forward on the workbench. Laughing Tony pulled the boy onto his knee before pulling his son's torso toward his ao he could make sure he didn't fall. With Harley safely against his chest, he could finish this one final calibration.

“I know I screwed up,” Harley said almost in a whisper. Tony glanced down at the boy whose blue eyes were half shut. “‘M sorry for worrying you and scaring you. Wasn’t fair.” 

“Thank you for saying that.” Leaning back further into his hold Harley yawned. 

“You stayed with me. I coulda did those chores myself, but you did ‘em with me. Why,” the boy asked rubbing his eyes. Tony ran a hand through the boy’s hair.

“Well, I wanted to punish you, not scar you. Lab time is supposed to be a time for us to hang out.” Harley hummed waiting for him to continue. “When my dad was mad at me I felt like he didn’t love me. Sometimes he wouldn't even look at me. I didn’t want you to feel that way. I mean I was pissed I still kind of am, but you’re my son and I never want you to doubt that I love you. Even if it means I end up punishing myself just as much as you.” In a shocking turn of events, Harley turned from his position with his back to Tony’s torso and flipped himself over so that his chest was flush against the man’s. He rested his face against the man’s collarbone. 

“I love you,” he murmured. Tony felt his heart burst with excitement and joy. He couldn’t remember Harley ever saying that to him before. His eyes started to glisten. They’d finally had a breakthrough. 

“I love you too, Spud.” Realizing with his moist eyes he wouldn’t get anything else done tonight Tony grabbed Harley under the armpits and pulled him into his arms. He was about ten or more pounds heavier than his brother, but still light enough for Tony to carry. Yet another surprise met him when Harley wrapped his legs around the man’s waist and his arms around his neck. 

This was a first. Tony had done this a million times with Peter, but never, not once with Harley.

This was history in the making. 

As he climbed the steps from the basement and walked across the house. His heart was so full. It was nights like these that made every late-night he spent crying or worrying if he was doing the right thing all worth it. He gently opened Harley’s door and set the boy down in his bed. He’d been smart to have the boy take an early shower right after dinner. Laying the boy in his bed was a breeze. 

“Love you, Spud,” Tony said planting a kiss on the boy’s forehead before standing to walk out of the room. 

“Love you too, Daddy.” Tony stopped midstep. It was so faint that he thought he might have imagined it, but when he turned around he saw Harley’s grinning face as the boy rolled over. 

This was the perfect end to his night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wellll?! Did that excite you? I bet it did. Drop me a comment and lemme know what you think!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ....and here's another one for yaz and b/c it's a day late it's also pretty dang loooong! 
> 
> I really appreciate all of your kind words and support for this one! I never expected such a response, so THANK YOU! 
> 
> Warnings...mentions of seizure, please be careful if this is sensitive for you.

Tony was frantically trying to find a suitable breakfast for a kid who’d been throwing up since the wee hours of the morning, but in his sleep-deprived state all he could find was a small cup of yogurt that was prepacked for the boys’ lunch. “Gotta set you on the counter for a bit, baby.” As soon as he tried to release his hold, the boy whimpered, whined, and banged his feet against the counter top. Sighing Tony pulled the grumpy and sweaty boy back into his arms. 

“I’m definitely thinking you’ve got the flu. Should have gotten you that shot. Stupid Rhodey and his anti-vaxxer conspiracy theories.” Tony sighed and pulled out a spoon before using his free hand to try and open the cup. A bit splattered onto the counter and he shrugged. It could get cleaned up later. He sat down at the table with Peter’s sweaty head leaning against his shoulder. “Come on Roo, you gotta eat something.” 

“I don’t want to. Feel really bad,” the boy said tightening his hold. 

“I know, but you’ve got to keep your strength up. I tell you what, if you eat some of this I’ll get you some popsicles for later, ok?” Peter offered him a slow yet dramatic head nod before opening his mouth. Tony immediately plopped the scoop of yogurt into his mouth. “How’s that?”

“Cold.”

“Feels good, huh?” Peter didn’t respond, but opened his mouth again. After getting him to eat the cup of yogurt successfully, Tony spent a few minutes ordering some supplies via Amazon Prime. The whole while his sweaty kangaroo child was tightly latched to him letting out soft whines of discomfort. He ordered trash bags, ice packs, applesauce, children’s Tylenol, jello, popsicles, a new thermometer before Peter started to squirm. Tony leaned back in the chair and gently tried to rub his baby’s back, but his shirt was almost stuck to his warm body.

“Belly hurts,” he mumbled. He rubbed the boy’s head before planning a kiss on his forehead. If he could get the kid to sleep soon enough hopefully he could get in front of the fever. Just as he was making plans Peter went rigid in his hold and his eyes flew open. 

Oh no!

Without a second thought he stood up and sprinted to the nearest bathroom. He was just steps away when he felt the back of his shirt become wet and very sticky. Yuck.

“‘M sorry, Daddy,” Peter whined starting to cry. “I tried to hold it but it hurts.”

“I’m not mad, baby. Let’s get you upstairs and changed ok?” Peter nodded and Tony just sighed. This was going to be a long day. 

About twenty minutes and another bout of tears later, Peter was quietly snuggled into Tony’s bed sleeping soundly holding his wrench pillow. Sighing he felt his knees ache when bent down to pick up the boy’s sweaty pajamas and put them in a trash bag in hopes of containing whatever the boy had. He looked at the clock and frowned it was after ten in the morning and he hadn’t seen or heard from Harley. Moving out of his room quickly yet quietly he headed down the stairs to see what the kid was up to. 

“HK, time to get up buddy,” he bellowed before knocking on the door. “Harley?” A surge of emotions ran through him. The kid better not have snuck out again. Throwing the door open Tony gasped when he opened the door. Harley was laying on the floor holding his stomach groaning. Rushing over he grabbed the boy and pulled him into a sitting position. He sighed when he felt a familiar stickiness on the front of the boy’s shirt. So, so gross. “Buddy, what’s wrong?”

“It hurts everywhere. So so hot but so cold too,” Harley moaned. Tony sighed. Apparently letting the boys share a bowl of ice cream the night before at the arcade was a very bad idea. Tony suddenly felt very guilty. He’d immediately thought the worst of the boy when he’d been sick and suffering too. 

Reaching out his ran his fingers gently over the boy’s forehead. “Baby why didn’t you come get me?” 

“You had Peter, I was ok.” Tony sighed. Harley was forever the big brother. 

“You know you’re my baby too, right? I’m his dad just as much as I am yours.” Harley winced and nodded. “Come on, I’m gonna baby you a bit.” Harley coughed and winced again. He helped Harley get out of his gross shirt and into the bathroom. He maneuvered the boy into the shower and told him to clean up while he cleaned his room. 

There was one thing that parenthood taught Tony Stark it was how to clean up grossness quickly and efficiently. He was dumping Harley’s old sheets into the trash bag so he could drop it by the laundry room just as Harley emerged from the bathroom with his hair dripping wet and a pair of shorts on. Tony found one of the boy’s t-shirts and pulled it over his head. The boy looked up at him bleary-eyed and swaying slightly. Without asking him, he picked the boy under the armpits and settled him on his hip.

“Not a little kid, Tony.” The man rolled his eyes. 

“You need to be a kid for a while so humor me you little troll.” Harley sighed, but to Tony’s surprise, he rested his head on the man’s shoulder. “I love you, Spud.”

“I love you too,” Harley breathed out. He carried the boy upstairs and toward his bedroom. Tony opened the door to his room with his foot and sighed with relief when he saw that Peter was still asleep. “I can go back to my room, Tony.”

“Nope, nonsense. If I’ve got to nurse you two back to health we’re going to do it in one place.” He set Harley down on the bed but instead of crawling toward his brother he looked up at Tony indignantly. Tony sighed and knelt down. Sometimes because the boys were so different it was easy to forget that they’d gone through the same hard things. He knew the boys wore their scars of neglect, it’s just he forgot how each one chose to carry it. Peter desperately wanted to be babied for all the time he’d lost and spent much of his time focusing on achieving just that. Harley on the other hand hated the idea of someone trying to baby him. He often pulled out of hugs and tried to refuse even the smallest hint of someone coddling him. Sometimes Tony thought that the boy resented people babying him because it was a reminder of the times that he wanted to be babied but was rejected.

That was a feeling he knew very well. 

And one he knew he could overcome if he was persistent. Pepper and Rhodey showed him the way and now he could do it for his son. 

“You’ve never had anyone help you when you’re sick, have you?” Harley kept his head low and didn’t respond. “It’s hard, huh?” He nodded his head but kept his gaze on his bare feet. Tony put his hand on the back of Harley’s neck and pulled it forward so he could plant a kiss on the boy’s forehead. 

“I don’t want you to think that I don’t love you as much as I love Pete and Morgan. I take care of them when they’re sick or hurting, why can’t I help you?”

“They’re babies. I’m not.” Tony’s face softened. 

“You’re my baby.” Harley glared at him with his fever hazed blue orbs. 

“I know what you’re trying to do, but you don’t have to. I’m ok,” he said. Tony sighed.

“I know I don’t have to. I want to. Let me help you, Harley,” he said sincerely. 

“I’m ok Tony, really.” He made a move to stand up but started to sway before Tony gently pushed him back on the bed. 

“I’ll level with you. You let me take care of you until you’re better and if you hate it when it’s all over next time you’re sick I’ll leave you alone.” Harley made a face. 

“‘M not stupid.” 

“No, but you’re my son so that means I should get to torment you while you’re sick.” Harley rolled his eyes but relaxed his posture essentially giving up. “Want to watch a movie?” 

“Jurassic World, that kid’s a douche.” Tony snorted. 

“He could be your twin.” Harley made a noise of annoyance.

“He’s a sap. Like, grow the hell up.” Tony rolled his eyes and pushed the boy back onto the bed before planting another kiss on his forehead. “Plus, I’m like way smarter than him.”

“You sure are, Spud.” Tony had one of his robots put the movie on before he stood to go and collect the items he’d ordered for the boys. “Stay?” Turning around Tony tried to hide his smile. “Peter will want you,” Harley said. 

“Peter, huh?” Harley shrugged and slid over so Tony could lay down on the bed to him. “Don’t worry I won’t leave you.” 

~/~

Tony let his eyes flicker open at the sound. He’d spent the last few hours playing nurse to his sick boys. He’d done three changes of clothes, two rounds of ice packs, and had to bundle each kid in his own blanket before having to rip them out of the cocoon thirty minutes later, before having to swaddle them yet again.

He was exhausted.

Finally, after watching Transformers both boys were sleeping soundly. He did his best to get some rest on the couch while they slept. Parenting rule 101 when you sick kid sleeps you do too and he planned to do just that. 

He didn’t know how much later it was but he heard the distinct sounds of a nightmare. Tony let his eyes open and travel to the sound. If he was honest, he was fully expecting it to be Peter moaning, but it was Harley who was thrashing and murmuring. He pushed himself toward the boy. 

“No, no, run Peter,” he whimpered. “Don’t hurt ‘em!” The boy whined again. “Where’s Daddy! Peter, Daddy’s coming! Don’t cry. Please.” Tony’s breath caught in his throat. Was he asking for him? “I’m sorry, I tried!” Leaning down he didn’t want Harley to live through the pain of the dream anymore. He started to shake him. 

“Come on, Spud, wake up.” The boy kept kicking in his sleep, but Tony persisted and intensified the shaking. Harley’s blue eyes popped open and he gazed into Tony’s eyes desperately. 

“Daddy?” Tony almost wept at the word. 

“Yeah buddy, it’s Daddy.” Harley’s face crumpled and Tony pulled the boy into a sitting position so he could hug him. Harley wrapped his arms around Tony’s neck and buried his face in the man’s chest.

“They hurt him so bad and I couldn’t stop it. Every time his teacher’d call they’d take him in the room and lock the door and hit him over and over,” he sobbed out. “He screamed for me! I tried to stop them. I did! They didn’t care. Bigger and stronger! I told him you were coming for us. I kept promising him that you would.” Tony started to rock gently and just rubbed Harley’s back. “I was so scared,” he said crying. “I hated it there. I just wanted to come home.” He thought the crying was ceasing, but it picked back up with, “They hit us so much.” Tony’s heart broke with each sobbed confession. He knew the boy probably wouldn’t share this with him if he wasn’t in a fever haze, but it didn’t make it any less heartbreaking. They’d been scared and waiting for him. He didn’t know if he’d ever be able to forgive himself for the year that he’d lost them.

“I’m here now and you guys are safe. I promise.” They sat like that with Harley gently crying and Tony rubbing his back and murmuring reassurances for longer than Tony knew. He probably would have stayed that way if Peter didn’t wake up whining. 

“Daddy, ‘m cold.” Tony clicked his teeth and felt Harley pulling away. He tightened his hold on him before maneuvering himself to be in the middle of both boys. Leaning back he gathered his sons into his arms and tried to focus on the movie in front of them. Soon enough they were both sleeping pillowed on his chest. 

Glancing down at them he never would have imagined that his life could be as perfectly broken as this.

~/~

Tony yawned as he carded his fingers through Peter’s sweaty hair. The fever had finally broken and now he was just dealing with an even clingier version of his little boy than he was used to. The plan was to get Peter to fall asleep, but every time he was close the boy would jostle himself purposefully. 

In one of his single parents’ support groups that Pepper strongly suggested he’d attend, one of the other dads said sometimes he got so tired that he felt like he wanted to cry. Tony thought that was stupid at the time, now he understood it. “Buddy, come on, Daddy needs to rest.” Peter growled at him but didn’t speak. “So you’re an animal now.” The boy didn’t respond again he just snuggled closer. “You know that I love you, right? I won’t leave you. If you go to sleep I’ll be here when you wake up.” Harley rolled over at Tony’s feet and snuggled into his blanket again. “Harley knows I’ll be here when he wakes up.”

“‘M not dumb, Daddy,” Peter mumble growled at him. Tony chuckled. 

“Getting too smart for my games, huh?” The little boy set his small hand on Tony’s midsection before sticking the thumb from his other one into his mouth. Without a word Tony gently pulled the thumb out and set the boy’s hand at his side. Peter must have realized what he was doing because he started to fiddle with the hem of Tony’s shirt. 

“Last time I was sick, Aunt and Uncle didn’t help me much. They gave me um Dayquil, I think that’s the name and that was it. Harley had to go buy me stuff. Uncle yelled at him for babying me, but Harley sat with me and told me stories.” Tony sighed and his heart broke as he started to rub soothing circles on the boy’s arm. Peter let out a big yawn that made Tony think the boy would conk out soon. He hoped keeping him talking would distract him enough to sleep.

“What else happened?” Peter yawned again. Yes!

“He told me an IronMan story, I didn’t know you told him those. It was good though. About IronMan bringing a special dog back to his owner because that was all the boy had from his daddy. He said the boy didn’t have many friends and was real quiet because he was smart. IronMan saw him sitting on his step and returned the dog to him and he brought him a friend too. He said that the boy wouldn’t ever be lonely again because he had two friends for life.” Tony gripped Peter tighter and silently wiped the tears away from his eyes. 

That story was about Rhodey. He’d moved from Maryland with his mom and younger sister when he was nine. The year before his dad had been killed while working overseas. So the Rhodes family including their dog Scholar moved up the country to the countryside of New York. 

How Harley knew that he had no idea.

“Daddy?” He snapped back into reality and looked down at his son. “Harley loves you a lot you know. When it’s just us he calls you Daddy too, he just didn’t want to tell you.” Tony looked down at the boy’s big brown eyes. 

“Do you know why?”

“He said people don’t really want him.” Peter yawned. “I think he always wanted you to be our daddy, but he was scared.” 

“What about you Petey?”

“I knew you loved us. I called you Daddy one time when we were at the old house. Harley told me not to. He said we weren’t staying.” Tony’s felt something shattering inside of him and he felt his hold losing on his senses. The boys had carried such a weight that he didn’t even know existed. Peter his ever perceptive little guy squeezed his middle. “But we knew you were coming back for us. We didn’t know it would take so long, but we knew.” 

“How’d you know, Pete?” 

“One day Ms. Wanda was at the house with Aunt and Uncle and you called. We heard you telling her that you were going to get us back. Me and Harley even packed ‘cause we knew you were coming.” Tony sighed. He remembered that day, it was two weeks after the boys had stopped coming to the program. He was out of his mind with worry and he made several desperate calls to her trying to get answers. “Aunt and Uncle said you wouldn’t come and that you forgot about us, but we didn’t believe them.” 

“I’m sorry it took so long, Roo.” 

“Not your fault,” he mumbled into the man’s side. 

“Ms. Wanda didn’t like you.” 

“How do you know that?”

“She said you um bought her apartment building I think. Her family had to move but couldn’t find nowhere to stay or something. I don’t know really, but she doesn’t like you. Said you only wanted us for good um news.” Tony grabbed the little boy’s hand in his. He made a note to text Pepper to have her file a formal complaint into Wanda with this new information. It definitely made more sense now, why she was so smug and fought him so hard. He knew there was a reason, but he couldn’t ever figure out why. His insides burned at the thought of her letting them get hurt to serve her own prejudice. They’d suffered horribly and all she was worried about was proving that they were better off without him. 

Revenge was a dish best served cold. 

“Well, I want you to know that I only ever wanted you and Harley because I love you two. Not because of any press or whatever people want to say, ok? I don’t care what anyone ever tells you again. I loved you and all I ever wanted was for you to be safe and loved.” 

“We know, Daddy.” Tony looked down and saw that Peter was sound asleep on his chest. He let his eyes follow the voice and saw Harley’s blue eyes sticking out of his blanket cocoon staring at him. 

“Hey, Spud? How are you feeling?” Harley just smiled at him and snuggled deep into his blanket. 

“Safe,” was all the boy said before letting his eyes close again. That one word set Tony’s mind at ease. He would have his bad days and he might lose his temper with them, but if his boys felt safe then he was doing one hell of a job. 

With that in mind, he adjusted himself so that all three Stark men could sleep comfortably ready for whatever would come next. 

~/~

Tony opened his eye to a very cheerful James Rhodes staring down at him. “Oh no I died in my sleep!”

“Shut up. You and I both know that you’re the ugly one.” Tony closed his eyes again. “Get up this room smells vicious by the way.” Groaning he tried to sit up only to be leveled with a weight on his chest. “That’s your koala.” Rhodey snorted. “How’d end up like that anyway?” Tony sighed and went to work extracting the boy from his position on Tony’s chest. 

“Believe it or not I have no idea. When I went to sleep his head was on the pillow. I should sign him up for gymnastics, kid’s got one helluva grip.” Finally, after a very serious moment of work, he was free of his sweaty child. 

“When’s the last time you took his temperature? Is he supposed to be sweating like that?”

“How he sweats like that is beyond me. His fever broke last night so he should be ok.”

“You sure you gonna leave him alone?” Tony shrugged. 

“I haven’t been out of his room for a long period of time in like three days. I’m about to start naming the furniture. Plus the kid knows how to find me. Trust me. He’s got like Daddy radar or something.” Rhodey chuckled and quietly walked out of the room with Tony on his tail. “So what’s the reason for the house call?”

“I brought you guys some soup and crackers and a juicy steak with veggies for you. I figure the boys will probably be out for a while so this will help.” Tony gave his friend a playful punch on the shoulder. He really loved this guy. 

The two men sat and caught up like they always did. Tony had to admit that it was really nice for his boys to have an uncle like Rhodey. The man was as loyal and as straightforward as they come. With him, Pepper, and maybe Steve the boys would have great role models to grow up around and learn from. 

The day he’d seen dirty kid rewiring a remote-controlled car to create a locking mechanism for his room using only his brain and a leftover Kinex set he knew there’d be magic. They’d been through it all together and here they were still leaning on each other just like they did that very first day.

“You look like a zombie ate you,” said breaking Tony out of his thoughts. 

“What?”

“Dude, deep purple bags and you smell like you haven’t showered in days.” Tony rolled his eyes.

“Those two have worn me out. Every time I shower they puke on me. It’s like what’s the point?” Rhodey scrunched his face in disgust. “Just wait until you have kids, then you’ll see. I bet…” Tony started before he heard a shriek. 

“Daaaadddy!” Before he knew it Tony was up running in a dead sprint toward his bedroom. He threw the door open and surveyed the room. Harley was on his knees leaning over Peter who was shaking violently on the floor. 

“Oh my God!”

He was having a seizure! 

Thank God for Rhodey who after being in the military for most of his adult life sprung into action. He gently picked Peter up and set him in the middle of the bed whilst ordering Tony to move everything out of his way. Peter continued to thrash. “Harley, how long has he been like this?” 

The boy gaped like a fish with panicked eyes. Wordlessly he looked up at Tony confused and lost. Sensing his son’s emotional rollercoaster Tony ran a reassuring hand down the boy’s hairline into his neck. 

“It’s ok, buddy. We just need to know how to help Peter. Can you tell us how long he’s been like this? Do you know?” 

Coming out of his haze Harley hardened his gaze with a steely focus. “Uh um I don’t know he woke me up saying he didn’t feel good. He tried to go to the bathroom but he didn’t make it. He just dropped and started doing that.”

Rhodey nodded before glancing at Peter who was still convulsing. “I know you’re scared, but I need to know. Was it a minute before you call your dad?” Harley shook his head.

“No, I called as soon as it started.” Rhodey sighed with relief and continued to keep his eyes on Peter. 

“You did good,” Tony said pulling Harley close to his side. The boy melted into the touch. Peter stopped shaking and went limp. “Is he ok?” Rhodey didn’t say anything, he just wiped Peter’s mouth with the tail of his shirt. 

Tony felt himself getting annoyed with his friend, but he tried to remind himself that the man was helping them all right now. He kept stroking Harley’s hair in an attempt to calm him down while Peter slowly started to stir. 

“Peter, it’s Uncle Rhodey, can you open your eyes for me?” The boy whimpered and shook his head. 

“Hot. Wan’ Daddy,” he groaned. Rhodey sighed with relief. 

“I’ve got your daddy right here, noodle,” he smiled and motioned for Tony to come toward his son. Using his knees to move across the bed Tony was near Peter in a matter of moments. Peter immediately opened his eyes and smiled when he saw the man.

“Hi, baby.”

“Daddy,” the boy said smiling. “Wha’ happen’?” Tony glanced at Rhodey who was still right there.

“You got a little hot is all buddy. Your body didn’t like that,” Rhodey said. “But you’re gonna feel better really soon.” Turning toward the older brother who was sitting on his knees at the foot of the bed, Rhodey spoke again, “Hey Harley, can you go get the ice packs out of the fridge?” Harley looked at Rhodey annoyed by the question. Tony shot his oldest son a pleading look before the boy furrowed his brows and pushed himself off the bed. A few moments later Rhodey spoke quietly again, “We need to make sure Pete’s ok. Do you feel wet buddy?” Peter scrunched his face and Tony’s heart broke for him. 

“I wa’ d-do’in so good,” he whined.

“It’s ok. You couldn’t help it. We’ll get you in a nice cool bath. Then you won’t have to think about it anymore. Ok?” Peter nodded lifting his arms for his dad. Tony gently pulled the boy into his arms. “Let’s get you cleaned up, Roo. Then you can sit with me all day, ok?” 

After getting Peter into a lukewarm bath, Tony sat on the lid of the toilet while Harley sat near his feet leaning over the tub to check on Peter who was quietly playing in the tub as if he was in deep thought. Glancing at his phone he wanted to make sure that Rhodey wasn’t sending him any updates while he was on the phone with one of his pediatrician friends. 

“Petey, how are you feeling, ready to get out?” The boy silently nodded and slowly stood up. Tony made quick work of grabbing him out of the tub and wrapping him in a towel. Soon he had the boy dried off and dressed in a pair of fresh pajamas. He tried to dry the curls but Peter was grunting and squirming too much so he gave up. “Alright, ready for a nap?” Peter nodded his head sweetly against the man’s shoulder. “You really don’t feel well, huh? You’re usually screaming and running away from a nap.” He shook his head tiredly. Standing up he grabbed him under his armpits and hoisted him onto his hip. “Let’s go into the living room, huh? Give you a change of scenery.” As he moved down the stairs he realized that Harley was nowhere to be seen. 

When had he left the bathroom? 

Frowning Tony realized he’d have to check in with the boy before he went to bed. He set himself on the couch and per usual Peter worked his way on top of him and nestled into his chest. Closing his eyes Tony tried to get a bit more sleep before the next round kicked in.

Tony popped his eyes open to hear a door slide open and two sets of feet. “Go to your room,” he heard Rhodey say. So much for his sleep. Turning his head he saw Rhodey holding Harley’s arm while the boy stood staring at the floor. As he looked closer he saw a pack of white cigarettes in Rhodey’s other hand. 

Great. 

From one crisis to another. 

It wasn’t even noon yet. 

He sighed and glanced down at Peter who was sleeping soundly on his chest. It has been such a long morning already. Tony looked at Harley who was currently trying to pull out of Rhodey’s tight hold. 

“I’ve got it,” Tony said leveling Harley with a steely glare. Shifting he tried to slide from under Peter who was having none of it and woke suddenly and started to growl like a legit lion. Tony instantly went to work shushing him. “You’re ok, Roo. Daddy’s right here.” He pushed them into a sitting position. Peter was giving him a very pissed off look, but with his super curly hair, little button nose, and those ears all Tony could see was a snarling puppy. 

And it was frickin’ adorable. 

He chuckled and pushed the boy’s mostly dry hair out of his face. “Daddy,” he whined. “I don’t feel good. Just wanna sleep.” Tony gave his son a sympathetic look. 

“I know baby, but I need you to eat some food Uncle Rhodey bought for us, ok?” The boy narrowed his eyes and started his grunting again. “Then you can watch a movie until you fall asleep. How does that sound?”

Peter momentarily stopped his new set of grunts to look up at Tony. “Us together? Me, you and Harley?” Tony smiled. 

“We’ll see bud.” He set Peter on the ground and nudged him toward Rhodey. The man smiled when Peter sleepily pushed himself toward his uncle reaching up for the man instantly. Dropping Harley’s arm Rhodey picked Peter up and walked toward the kitchen. That just left Tony and Harley in very uncomfortable silence. He looked at his son who still looked rather sick and definitely not himself. His skin was pale and his hair was sticking in every direction. 

“I’m going to my room,” he said with a shaky voice. The kid was usually so sure of himself. It actually kind of annoyed Tony because Harley was honestly way too much like him. He had a swagger to him that most eleven-year-olds didn’t and it only seemed to increase since his time near Tony. 

“Let’s go sit on the patio,” Tony shot back instantly. Harley gave him a look but inched toward his bedroom door. “Don’t push me, kid. I’m tired and I smell like vomit, so yeah.” Harley sighed and followed Tony toward the patio. He closed the door and gestured for Harley to sit down on one of the chairs next to him. “What’s going on with you, Spud?”

“It’s really hot.” Tony nodded. 

“Yeah, it is. Not hot enough for you to light up a mini fire so you could smoke again though.” Tony sighed. “Did this morning with Peter work you up?” Harley acted like he didn’t hear him. Tony waited for Harley to respond or look up, but the boy kept fidgeting with the lawn chair. After it was clear Harley wasn’t going to say anything Tony spoke again. “Well, it freaked me out pretty bad. If I wasn’t so focused on making sure you guys were safe I would probably end up drinking or something else.” Harley looked up at him surprised. “Oh, you didn’t know that I’m a recovering addict?” The shocked look on the boy’s face clearly showed that he had literally no idea. 

“Like um drugs and beer n’ stuff?”

“Mostly alcohol,” he said. He wasn’t going to lie to his kids, that was one thing he promised himself this time around. “So you see I get it. I really do. It’s ok if you were scared. I mean I know I was. What I don’t want is for you to develop unhealthy coping habits. I did and that’s the last thing I want for you. They’re hell to break. Trust me.” Harley licked his lips and rubbed his hands on his shorts. Tony let that hang there for a while and really settle in.

He needed to know that this was serious. 

This was a generational thing that Tony was sensitive to. Every Stark man he knew of had a problem with addiction. He wasn’t about to let this hit his kids. He’d die first. 

“Hey, Spud look at me,” he urged firmly. The boy sighed but let his eyes meet Tony’s. “Whatever you’re feeling inside is ok, but I can’t help you if you don’t let me know what’s going on. Let me help you.” Tony was a little shocked when Harley brought both of his fists down hard on the chair in a frustrated heap of emotions. “Hey hang on there,” he started before he heard his son start to speak. 

“I didn’t know how to help him,” he said quietly wiping his eyes. Tony rubbed his hand on the back of Harley’s neck. The boy was trembling slightly. “I was so scared. He was shaking. He’s never done that before. I always know what to say or how to help him. That’s what makes me a good big brother, right? Well, I didn’t help ‘em. I’m supposed to protect’m and I didn't. I didn’t know what to do. He was just shaking and I just watched.” Tony wrapped his arm around Harley and pulled him in for a hug. The boy was crying steadily at this point. Tony’s knew all too well the problem with too much responsibility. 

“You know it’s ok, right? You’re not always going to know how to help or what to do.” Harley sniffed and stared down at the wooden patio chair. “It’s apart of life not knowing what to do, but you did the right thing; you called for help. Peter’s ok thanks to your quick thinking.”

“But I didn’t help him!”

“Buddy, look at me.” Harley looked up with tears sitting on his cheeks gave the man his best gaze. “You helped him by realizing that you needed help. That was the best thing you could do for him. He’s ok because you called for help. You get that, right? Because of you, we got in front of the issue and he’s okay now. You should be proud of yourself.” Harley just shook his head stubbornly. Tony pulled Harley onto his lap. “I’m so very proud of you,” he said pulling the boy close and wrapping him up tightly in his grasp. Tony knew Harley preferred to be given side hugs and hated being set on Tony’s lap, but he knew the boy needed comfort. It was something his dad never did for him, but he could see it all over his oldest’s features. This kid needed a hug. He gently started to rock as Harley worked to contain himself. The boy wouldn’t let it out like he wanted him to, but at least he was allowing himself to feel the emotions that were coming his way. “It’s ok buddy. Please don’t blame yourself.” He gently rubbed his hands through Harley’s hair. “People tried to make you know everything, but even if you don’t you’re a good brother and son. You’re an amazing boy, Harley and I love you.” 

After what seemed like an hour Harley finally let himself calm down and rested his head just underneath Tony’s neck. The move seemed a bit uncertain, but Tony made sure to comfort him by resting his head right on top of Harley’s. They didn’t speak, instead just listening to the sounds of Harley’s new pool cleaner that was cleaning leaves out of the pool. Tony chuckled, the kid built it so he wouldn’t have to use the net to do it anymore. 

A smile crossed his face as he kept gently rocking. Since he first met them, both boys had changed so much. He was starting to see less of their wounds and more of their hearts. For all of his sarcasm and biting wit, Harley Keener loved just as much as Peter did. He just showed it differently. For him, love meant standing in front of his brother taking the whipping that was meant for someone else. It even meant letting your dreams die to save someone else. Tony desperately loved that about his son. He was willing to do anything to keep his family safe. It was the sign of a noble person and a man of honor. 

And that was something Tony Stark cherished.

“I’m glad we’re with you,” Harley said cutting into Tony’s thoughts. Tony knew Harley chose his words carefully so he waited for the boy to finish. “If we were with Joe and Melanie or even Paige I don’t know if anybody would have cared. They might even have thought I was lying.” He looked up at Tony with a shine in his blue eyes. “You’re a good dad.” Emotions seemed to overwhelm him and he planted his face in Tony’s chest once again. Choosing to let his actions speak more than his words he gave the boy a gentle squeeze and kiss on his head. 

Millions of words and feelings words were covering them in that moment like a blanket of fresh snow. 

Tony knew that this was the start of something special. 

They sat like that for a long time with neither of them wanting to ruin what was happening. For once Harley was being a little boy and letting Tony love on him. It was something they both needed but didn’t know how to do until then. 

“Hey, Tones, Pete’s asleep. Just a heads up,” Rhodey said sticking his head onto the patio. Tony nodded and looked down at Harley. He thought the boy might have fallen asleep as well, but he was surprised to see him just staring. 

“You ready to go?” Harley shrugged. “So you want to stay?” 

He dropped his head so it was trained on his fidgeting hands. “Sorry for smoking again. I know I said I wouldn’t.” Tony felt Harley took a deep breath. “Am I grounded again? You know with no lab like last time?” Tony thought about it and he really should punish him, but who could blame the kid for wanting a smoke after seeing something like that? Hell, he was an adult and he wanted a drink. How bad could it be for an eleven-year-old? 

“No, I’m not. We all have our weak moments.” Harley sighed with relief. “But if you do it again, I will ok?” The boy nodded. “I need you to make me a promise. You come to me if you feel like you need one, ok? We’ll talk out whatever you’re going through.” 

“What’s that gonna do?,” he asked quietly. 

“It will help you,” Tony said trying not to respond with a snappy retort of his own. “When I feel like I need to do something if you will, I’m supposed to call my sponsor. They help me talk through my um stressor so I can overcome the urge.” 

“So you want to be my sponsor?” 

“No, I’m your dad, genius.” Harley shrugged. “What? Are you saying I’m not? I’m hurt, kid. I’m the best dad around.” The boy made a face and Tony knew it was on. Tony did the one thing he knew would make the boy answer his question; he started to tickle him. Harley tried not to laugh, but he couldn’t help it. Soon his pure unbridled laugh was filling the air. 

Tony loved that sound. 

“You win! Stop, stop! You win! You’re the best!” Tony smiled at the boy and stood up. 

“I figured you’d come around.” Dusting himself off he looked down at Harley whose hair was coming to the side in a way it usually wasn’t. For the first time, Tony saw how much the little guy kind of looked like him. “When you and Pete are feeling better how about you help me do one of my presentations?” Harley perked up. 

“You said that’s serious and we need to keep practicing.”

“Well you’re getting older, gonna be twelve soon you know,” he said winking. “So I was thinking it’s good practice for you to help me, I mean if you want to.” Harley leveled him with a glowing smile. “I need to start grooming you to take over for me.” 

“What about Peter?”

“Peter’s different. You know he likes other types of engineering, but you’re just like me kid you like to tinker. I dig that.” A twinkle grew in the boy’s eyes. “Now, don’t get me wrong all three of you can take over together one day if that’s what you want, but you kid, are the most like me in this inventory- thing I do.” The glow on the boy’s face was enough to light the son for years. 

“I’d really like that,” he said bouncing with excitement before coughing. 

“Come on, let's get some food and medicine in you,” Tony said reaching down to pick his son up into his arms. Harley was going to be too tall and big for this very soon so he wanted to soak it all up now. 

“I love you,” Harley said wrapping his arms around Tony’s neck. Smiling Tony walked into the house he bought for his sons knowing that they would all be there for a very long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So....what'd you think?


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...and she's baaaack! Heads up...this one is LARGE. 
> 
> Can you believe we're almost to the end? It's been such a fun crazy ride. I'm considering doing another IronFam fic with our three boys, but we'll see. 
> 
> ...I think there's something you will love in this one.

The weeks passed and the boys were starting to blossom in ways that Tony had hoped, but only dreamed of. Harley was excelling in school and was recently awarded with a shiny gold certificate signifying that he had all A’s above ninety-seven percent and has a satisfactory attendance record. A tear had trickled down his face when Harley stepped onto the stage to accept the certificate. He was still pretty short and smaller than most of the kids on the stage, but he carried a smirk that permeated his whole being and just happy he was. Tony knew that he was just as proud of himself as Tony was. 

Peter was hitting his own milestones. The little boy had just celebrated two weeks straight of clean bedsheets. Tony had a big celebration and took the boy on a trip to Legoland in California. Peter had screeched and jumped up and down when Tony told him about his surprise. The trip was originally supposed to just be the two of them, but Peter said it would be a good trip without his brother and sister. So, of course, Tony scheduled all four them at the fun resort and had a blast. The bright smile on Peter’s face the entire trip was enough return on his investment. 

The next set of developments over the next month made his heart swell in a way that he hadn’t known would happen before. Harley for as much prowess as he showed in engineering and mechanics decided to forego another year on the robotics team instead opting to join a skateboarding club instead. The group of boys worked to earn sponsorships and skated in competitions all over the city together. Tony whooped and hollered with Peter perched on his shoulders as he watched Harley nail a trick that the others had been failing at all day. 

He smiled and turned quickly at the sight. Anyone would have been shocked to see the man in the Armani suit at a skating contest, but here he was. His chest swelled with pride when Harley stood on the podium grinning and waving to him frantically. “That’s my son!” Harley had vibrated with excitement over his third-place trophy and begged to go hang out with his friends to celebrate. Armed with instructions and reminded to check-in Harley took off with his friends without giving more than a head nod to his younger brother. The kid had finally shed his parental rights to his brother and fully accepted his place as a kid. 

Talk about a massive victory. 

Peter’s accomplishment shocked Tony just as much as Harley’s did, but for other reasons. His shy, insecure, and so very awkward little boy had made a friend. It started with him hanging out with a kid who was new to the program named Ned. The plump Philipino boy was instantly attached to Peter because of their shared interest in all things nerd. At first, it was hanging out at the program working on projects together but quickly turned into playdates and then into sleepovers. Peter was very apprehensive about going, but Tony assured him that if anything did happen then he could always ask to go home. Armed with a new confidence Peter prevailed at the sleepover and proudly proclaimed upon his return that he was dry the entire time. 

This led to Peter finally coming out of his shell and surprised the heck out of everybody except Harley how smart he was. Tony knew the kid was a genius, but when he created a voice-activated robot from scratch for the annual carnival he floored him. When he asked him how he knew how to do it the boy responded simply, “I watched you do it, Daddy.” Tony radiated with joy at how much progress they were making and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Their new social worker, Maria Hill gave them glowing reviews and passed the petition for adoption onto a judge. 

That’s how he found himself at the same pizza buffet they’d gone to the first night he met them. He figured that he couldn’t get any more poetic than this. Harley and Peter were deeply entrenched in a pizza duel again while Tony spent his time handing Morgan pieces of cut-up pizza that she liked toss at her brothers. 

“Maguna, that’s not nice,” he said wiping her hands of the red sauce. 

“Petey likes it.” Tony rolled his eyes. Peter looked everything Morgan did. Those two were thick as thieves. Because of Tony’s new work hours and Harley’s added extracurriculars, Peter spent a lot of time at Pepper’s house during the week. She was honestly a godsend and gave the boy an even softer touch than Tony. He noticed after a day with Pepper the boy seemed more relaxed and sure of himself. Tony wasn’t really sure why or how, but he liked it.

“Hey Tony, can we go in the arcade now,” Harley asked. It didn’t faze him that he still went back and forth on calling him, dad or Tony. In all honesty, he figured that it might never change and he was ok with that. He knew the role he played for them and they did as well. “Tony?” It occurred to him, in a matter of days he would legally be their dad. 

Wow. 

His heart hammered in his chest. 

“Are you ok,” Peter poker in. 

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just um well I want to talk to you guys.” Harley and Peter glanced at each other before slouching into their seats. 

“Are we in trouble? Tony shook his head and smiled at his son. Even for all the strides, he made the kid was still just as anxious and insecure as ever. “‘Cause it was Harley who didn’t take out the trash yesterday.” Before Tony could say anything Hash balled his fist and punched his brother in the arm hard making a deep thud sound upon impact. 

“Snitch,” he hissed. “I only forgot because I had to empty all of ‘em because you were playing with Legos.” Tony reached out and firmly grabbed Harley’s hand. 

“You know we don’t hit. Apologize to your brother,” he said firmly. 

“He started it! He’s always whining to telling on me,” Harley said before Tony’s glare shut him up. “Sorry, Peter.”

“Next time it’ll be no lab,” Tony said. Harley huffed and crossed his arms. “As I was saying I just want to talk to you guys. Nobody’s in trouble.” He was hoping to see them at ease but from the apprehensive looks on their faces, he’d done the opposite. 

“Are we leaving?” Tony shook his head at Harley. 

“No, it’s nothing, bad guys.” The man blew out a breath. 

“Tell ‘em!” Tony glanced down at his daughter who had a mischievous smile on her face. 

“Did your mama tell you?” Morgan nodded and smiled cheekily. 

“Tell us what,” Harley demanded. 

“That just this morning our adoption has been approved. We just need to go to court and finalize everything.” The boys gave literally no response. They were so still Tony thought that he was in some weird time warp. “Guys?”

“Us and you forever?” Tony felt his eyes glisten at Peter’s jumbled question. 

“Yes, buddy. Forever.” Glancing at Harley, Tony smiled the boy had silent tears slipping down his cheeks. 

“Daddy, can I hug HK?” Tony nodded and the little girl toddled toward her brother and wrapped her little arms around his waist. “No cry, bubby.” That only made Harley cry more. 

Finally after a few minutes Harley wiped his eyes and smiled. “Thanks.”

“Trust me, Spud. I should be thanking you guys.”

“No, Wanda, Joe, Melanie, our mom, and everybody said you just wanted us for some type of media thing. They said you didn’t really want us, just what we could do for you.” Tony stared at his son who was piercing him with his blue eyes. “I’m sorry I thought it was true. No one ever really wanted me before. It was easier to think that you didn’t either.”

“Harls,” Tony started. 

“I just want you to know that I’m glad you’re our dad.” 

Peter leaned forward smiling. “Me too Daddy!” He stuck both of his hands across the table for the boys to grab. A jolt of warmth spread through him as they did. 

With their little hands in calloused ones he made them a promise, “I’m going to be there and love you boys until my dying breath. No one or nothing will ever take you away from me again.” Harley wiped his eyes again while Peter just kept a big smile on his face. 

“We love you too, Tony,” Harley said. “A whole lot.” 

Peter kept smiling but burst in with, “can we go play now?” Tony rolled his eyes. He wanted to ask the boys about changing their names but he could do it later. 

“Sure Roo. Go ahead.” Morgan turned and looked at Tony. “You too. Boys, can you watch her?”

“Yeah, of course. Come on Momo,” the older boy said. “I’m gonna win you a prize.” 

As his kids scampered off he couldn’t stop the smile that was plastered on his face. This was his best life. 

~/~

With Harley sleeping in the passenger seat next to him he pulled up to the house after dinner while Peter and Morgan were curled up in their booster seat and car seat respectively. He couldn’t get over how perfect everything was. 

He’d spent the day running them ragged with hours in the pool before letting them eat their weight in gross childhood food. Now he was just hoping to get a peaceful night of rest. They were coming more often, but he couldn’t guarantee them just yet. 

Just as he was getting out to figure out which kid he wanted to carry first, Pepper pulled up in her pearl white Audi. She had a pair of high cut jean shorts and a starched blouse. He felt his tongue dry up as he glanced at her long legs. Watching her place Morgan into the car seat in the back of her car he felt himself starting to slip deep into his feelings for her. 

“Tony, how long has Morgan been asleep?” Snapping out of his trance he tried to think quickly.

“Um her and Pete played for a bit then conked out on the highway. So about half an hour?” She nodded and glanced back toward the sleeping children in the cars. 

“Did you share the good news with them?” Tony gave her an unimpressed look.

“Oh, thanks for telling our very talkative almost-three-year-old about the surprise. She practically spilled the beans before I could say anything.”

“She has your knack for listening when she’s not supposed to,” Pepper said wryly. Tony smirked at her wit.

“Oh, that’s from me?”

“Yep and your inability to keep secrets. I mean there’s a whole list of them, would you like me to continue?” Tony stared into her blue eyes he felt himself getting lost all over again. For just a moment they were young and rebuilding the company his father had built. Passionate lovebirds gallivanting all over the world and changing the technology landscape as the world knew it. For eight years they were everything to each other. 

Then he ruined it. 

He got caught up in the fame, the fortune, and the mask of the Stark name. He fell hard and when he finally woke up and really started applying the treatments she was gone and so was their daughter. He’d never forget the pain of that day when he woke up to her side of the closet being empty and the nursery void of their babbling baby.

“Tony?”

“Yeah, sorry, just been kind of a crazy day. Full of emotions. I mean I’m going to be their dad.”

“You’re already their dad, Tony.” He cleared his throat. “You were made for this. Those boys had been dreaming of someone coming to love them their whole lives and then they found you.” 

“You’re perfect,” he blurted out. He hadn’t meant to say it, but it was true. Truer than anything he’d ever said before. 

“Tony, what,” she started before he leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on her lips. He stepped back and started to speak before he lost his nerve. 

“I love you. I’ve always loved you. Since the first day, you walked into my office declaring I needed someone to steer the visionary ship that I was sailing. You’re everything I want and need. Can we start from there?” She didn’t respond just stared into him like she was diving into his soul. “I mean, you don’t have to move back in or anything we can just take it slow. I’ll do anything you want me to even if,” he said before she planted a firm kiss of her own on his lips. 

“The Tony Stark I loved wasn’t the one I was waiting for. This guy right here the father of those three kids is the man I dreamed of.” Tony felt a tear slip down his cheek. He put his hand on her back and pulled her close to his chest. God, everything felt so perfect right now. They lingered like that for a while. Tony inhaled her sweet scent and wanted to remain in this moment forever. After placing another kiss on his lips Pepper pulled away. “I better be going. Don’t want to be driving too late.” 

“Hey the boys wanted to go on a picnic and to this new skatepark, they’re opening tomorrow. Would you like to come? I mean not to be forward or anything.” She rolled her eyes.

“Send me a time, Mr. Stark. I’ll be there.” Walking around the car she turned it on before silently pulling out of the driveway and down the street. When he turned back toward the car, he saw two bright-eyed boys staring at him with matching smirks. 

Harley gave him one of those looks and said, “Since you have a baby I guess I don’t need to say get a room, huh?” Tony couldn’t help the eye roll that his face produced. 

“Watch it,” he said with no real heat. Both boys started to snicker. “Get out of the car and your butts ready for bed.” They climbed out of the car and ran into the house. All he could do was smile. 

~/~

Tony was laying in bed reading through one of his new designs when he heard a soft knock on the door. Peter. “Come in, Roo.” To his surprise when he looked up not only was his youngest son standing there carrying his wrench pillow but his oldest son was standing holding a pillow of his own. “What’s up, guys?”

“Can we have a dogpile?” Tony rolled his eyes. Ever since the boys had gotten double sick they’d instituted this new all boy dog pile where the boys came to sleep in his room for whatever reason. He didn’t mind it one bit except when Peter thought he was Bruce Lee in his sleep and kicked him in more places than he could count. 

“Yeah, hop in.” The boys let out matching whoops and did just that. He looked up just in time to see both boys airborne ready to land on his king-sized bed. Tony had to cover his jewels so that no flailing arms would hurt the precious cargo. Once they were both giggling and settled on either side of him he relaxed. “To what do I owe this pleasure?” Peter hugged his pillow and smiled while bouncing on his knees. 

“We just wanted to be with you.” God, he loved these two. He pulled them both into hugs and started to plant alternating kisses on their heads. “Daddy! Stop,” Peter squealed. “You’re gonna get your spit on us!” Tony chuckled and let them go. Sitting back he saw a look of peace and contentment on Harley’s face as the boy leaned backward propped up with his arms behind his back and his hands on the bed. For months Tony didn’t even know he could look like that and now it was almost the only look he saw. After having some many hard days, he loved that his boys gave him nights like this. 

“Can we watch a movie,” Harley asked. 

“Sure, we don’t have to get up early. Go ahead get the bot to find us one,” he said. 

Peter scrambled forward toward Harley. “You chose last time! It’s my turn.” 

“Don’t be such a baby. It’s just a movie,” Harley shot back. Peter glared at his brother. 

“I’m not a baby!” Tony sighed, great another bicker fest. “You pick stupid movies!” Harley scoffed.

“We can’t watch Star Wars or dumb cartoons every time. Besides Eagle Eye was good, you’re just mad because it scared you.” 

“I wasn’t scared,” Peter shot back trying to seem bigger than he was. 

“You ran out of the room crying,” Harley said making a disbelieving face. 

“People were dying,” Peter shrieked. Tony sighed, this wasn’t going to end anytime soon if he didn’t intervene. 

Dad mode activated. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll pick a movie boys,” Tony cut in. “We can watch The Mummy,” he said, turning toward the television.

“See what you did! Now we have to watch a stupid old man movie!” Before Tony could be offended an angry shove from Harley pushed his brother causing Peter to fall backward off the bed. Tony and Harley gasped as the curls toppled over the side of the bed. Scrambling forward they weren’t quick enough because Peter popped up holding his head and crying. Tony went to inspect the damage, but Peter lunged at his brother first. He landed two good swings in before Tony pulled him away. 

“Hey, use your words,” Tony demanded.

“That hurt,” Peter growled, glaring at his brother. “Dickhole.” Tony sighed these two.

“Dickhole,” Harley laughed condescendingly which only incensed his brother more. “What is that?” Tony had to pull the growling wiry boy away again after he slipped out of his hold trying to attack his brother once more.

“Knock it off. We don’t hit each other and we talk like that,” Tony admonished. “Both of you.” Harley scoffed and rolled his eyes. 

“He’s a crybaby. Always whining about something!”

“He’s a big dork dick who thinks he knows everything,” Peter shot back. Tony realized two things at that moment, one he was way too tired for this and two-man, he needed to teach this kid to insult someone. 

He stepped out of the room and into the hall for some fresh air. He took a few calming breaths like his therapist Jarvis said. ‘They’re boys’ the man always told him. ‘Take a few deep breaths and remember how much you love them even if you want to strangle them.’ That always put things into perspective and made him smile. Tony knew that he loved his boys. They aggravated the hell out of him and sometimes he wanted to punt them like a football, but he loved them into oblivion and back. He quickly went downstairs to get a glass of water before he went back upstairs.

“Here we go,” he said turning to go back into the room. He was surprised to see them on the floor huddled together in the corner. They jumped when he entered and scrambled closer toward the wall. 

“What’s wrong? Why are you guys down there?” When he got closer Peter curled into a ball and started to rock. Harley was murmuring something in his ear that the man couldn’t hear. Tony didn’t know what was wrong, but something definitely was. Putting his hands up he slowly walked toward them like he was approaching a wounded animal. “Hey, it’s ok,” he said gently. 

“Stay there,” Harley demanded. Tony hadn’t head that tone in quite a while. It was guttural almost feral. It was the same one he used that day when Wanda made them leave for the hell house. 

“What’s wrong? Please just tell me what’s wrong.” Peter looked up from his arms with big tears running down his cheeks. 

“P-Please don’t whip us,” Peter begged. “We’ll be good! We p-promise!” Upon hearing the little guy stammer Tony’s heart broke for his youngest son. He glanced at Harley who looked like he was ready to murder Tony where he stood. 

“No! Guys, I’m not.” He tried not to be offended, because how could they really think that about him? He tried to shake it off and leaned down near them. Harley pulled Peter closer to his body. “I’ve never hurt you in all the time that you’ve known me. I didn’t then and I won’t now.” 

“You went to get your belt,” Harley spat at him.

“No, I didn’t.” Peter shook his head.

“U-Uncle and O-Owen always did,” he heard the scared quivering Peter’s small voice. 

“Guys you’re in my room. If I was going to get a belt it would have been in the closet, right?” Peter looked up again from his knees. Tony held up his empty hands. “See? No belt. I’m not hiding anything guys, I promise.” He pulled himself off the floor and held his hands out. “Come on, let’s watch that movie, ok?” Neither of them moved, they just kept looking at him. He sighed and sat down on his bed and put his head in his hands. Sometimes parenting kids from hard places was exhausting. He was about to legally become their father. Tony was sure they’d made great progress, but sitting on his bed he wasn’t so sure. This was almost the same reaction they’d had to him the night he first met them. Peter shaking and crying with Harley trying to console him both convinced a whipping was coming. Even after everything he’d done for them something as small as him leaving to catch his breath sent them into panic mode. 

Maybe they’d always be afraid of him. 

Maybe this was a mistake. 

A tear slipped down his cheek. 

Maybe Wanda was right. 

Maybe this was an attempt to prove something to himself. Just as he was about to spiral he felt a small hand placed on his. 

“Daddy?” He didn’t want them to see him cry so he kept his head down.

“Yeah, Roo,” he said, trying to keep the emotion out of his voice. 

“We’re sorry we were bad.” Tony sucked a deep breath trying to maintain his composure. They were just being kids they shouldn’t have to worry if they were going to get whipped for arguing. No one should fear that. He chose to look up. Peter was standing on his left side still holding his hand on top of Tony’s while Harley was leaning against the wall looking ready to pounce at any moment. 

“You guys aren’t bad. You two are very good. In fact, you’re two of the best things that’s ever happened to me.” He grabbed Peter’s hand and motioned for Harley to come closer. As soon as Harley was in reach he pulled both boys close to his chest. “I am so sorry that you two had such a hard time before you came to me. I wish every day that I could take your pain and all those bad memories away, but I can’t. All I can do is try to give you new ones-better ones- with me, Morgan and our family. I won’t ever hurt you guys. I know I’ve said it before, but I won’t.”

“What if we’re bad,” Peter asked.

“You’re never bad. I mean we all make mistakes and that’s ok, but you’re not bad boys, ok?” They nodded. “And I don’t care what you do. I will never hurt you like that. My dad did that kind of stuff to me and I’ll never do it to you. Ok?” They nodded. “You guys want to watch this movie now?” Quietly they both climbed into the bed. He thought they were settling, he turned to see Harley’s blue eyes piercing into him. 

“Do you love us like Morgan?” Harley’s question caught Tony off guard. 

“What do you mean?”

“Morgan is your real daughter. She looks like you and has your name.” Tony still didn’t get it. 

“Aunt and Uncle had two kids, Frankie ‘n EJ. They treated them better than us ‘cause they were their real kids,” Peter added in helpfully. Tony sighed again. This rabbit hole just kept getting deeper. 

“So let’s get one thing straight, all of you are my real kids,” Tony said firmly. The man looked down at the boys who didn’t look fully convinced. “Think really hard, have I ever done something for Morgan I haven’t done for you guys?” Harley opened his mouth and closed it while Peter has his face drown into a deep pout furrowing his brow. 

“I guess not,” Harley said quietly. Peter nodded his head in agreement. 

“See? You are my boys. So don’t worry about that stuff ok? Morgan is my daughter who looks like me and has my name, but you two act like me, did you know that?” Both boys looked confused. “Yep, Harley has my quick wit and mechanical ability. Sometimes I feel like I’m talking to an eleven-year-old Tony. He’s also a great protector and will do anything to keep his family safe even if it means he has to lose in the end. I admire you for that more than you know.” The older boy was beaming at Tony.

“What about me?” Peter smiled at him expectantly. Tony threw his arm around the smaller boy pulling him close to his side.

“You Roo, are a lot like Morgan. You’re sensitive and caring in a way that I wish I was. You care so deeply that it just makes you passionate about life. But you know the one thing I love about you the most? You love proving people wrong. They tried to tell you that you were dumb and you let them know that you’re smarter than they ever imagined.” Peter beamed with his own big smile. “You both are very resilient and I’m the same way. We get knocked down, but we get back up.” That seemed to settle the boys in ways Tony didn’t know they needed to be settled. 

He pulled himself and Peter back against the headboard and he wasn’t the least bit surprised when Harley leaned into his other side. “And as for the last name, well I want you boys to have it too if you’d like.” They looked up at him.

“Really,” they squawked in unison. 

“Yeppers. You can change anything about your names you want. You can even get new first names if you want.” 

Harley eyed him warily, “So we can be Peter and Harley Stark?” Tony smiled and nodded. 

“If that’s what you boys want,” he said, smiling.

“We do,” Peter yelled before jumping up and literally turning Tony’s bed into a trampoline. “Peter Benjamin Stark!” Tony looked at Harley who looked deep in thought. 

“I like my name,” he said.

“That’s ok. You can keep it. It won’t hurt my feelings.”

“No, that’s not it. I want to change it. Harley is who I am, but um I want to be someone new too. I think we should take your name because you’ve done so much for us.” Tony felt himself getting emotional. “What’s your middle name?” 

“It’s Edward.” 

“What about Harley Edward Stark?” He laughed. “That guy sounds like a real tool.” Tony snorted. “But I kinda like it. What do you think?”

“I like whatever you like, Spud.” Harley leaned into his side. 

“I think I’m going to keep it like that,” he said smiling. “Or do you think Harley Tony Stark is better?” 

“Bud, I think you should go with what you like. It’ll be your name forever.” 

“I think Harley Edward is better. Yeah, that’s it,” he said smiling up at Tony. Peter plopped down in front of them.

“I want a new name too!” He tapped his lip. “Mama said Ben was her brother. Do you have a brother?”

“Uncle Rhodey,” Tony said instantly surprising himself. “He’s been my brother from the day I met him.” Peter nodded. 

“What’s his real name?” 

“James Rupert Rhodes.” The boys glanced at each other before laughing. 

“Rupert? That’s a horrible name,” Harley snorted. “Wow! I thought Uncle Steve got shellacked in the name game, but Uncle Rhodey wins.” 

“Can I be Peter James Stark since he’s your brother?” Tony let his whole body vibrate with excitement. 

“He’ll love that, bud.” Peter threw himself into his arms and held on tight. 

“I love you, Daddy,” Peter said. Harley leaned in as well.

“Me too Daddy.” He couldn’t stop it now. The tears were coming in full force. He didn’t know he could have moments as perfect as this until he had kids. 

~/~

Tony let his eyes travel to his boys who were smiling as brightly as the sun. Leaning back on the grey blanket they bought for their picnic he allows himself to just enjoy the sun and the sweet sounds of his kids playing. 

“Here Daddy!l Looking up he saw his daughter holding her chubby had out to give me a bite of her ice cream.

“Oh, you’re so sweet!” He took a bite off the cone and watched as she sat down sweetly and continued to eat. The kid was so much like Pepper it made no sense. He felt Pepper sit down next to him and he caught her looking at the boys. 

“They’re miracles,” Pepper said in admiration.

“They are.”

“Remember when we were on that yacht for New Years and you said you never wanted kids? Now look you’ve got a whole house full.”

“Well, that’s in large part thanks to you. I didn’t like the idea of family and permanence, but you changed all of that. You made me realize having one thing for eternity might not be long enough.” 

She quirked her eyebrows at him. “One thing or one person?” He smiled at her. 

“You,” he said letting hang in the air. Not caring who was around he leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss on her lips. She smiled at him through the kiss. 

“You have ice cream in your beard,” she said. Morgan clapped and made a smooching sound. 

“Me kiss too!” Shaking his head he grabbed the little girl and started to pepper her with kisses. She squealed and giggled until Pepper told him to stop. He pulled his baby into his lap and she busied herself again with her ice cream. 

“I know you didn’t have to, but thank you for all of your support and help over the last few months. The boys adore you and I’m just lucky to have you.”

Pepper leveled him with a gaze that he knew meant something serious was about to come out of her mouth. “Peter asked if I would be his mama.” Tony’s heart lurched inside of his chest. 

“I didn’t tell him to ask you that. I swear.”

“Tony, I’ve spent enough time with him to know that little boy’s heart is as big as the world. He just wants as much love as he can get and after what they’ve been through I don’t blame him. To put your mind at ease I told him you and I would discuss if first.” He gulped but tried to act calm and collected. 

“Well, um let’s discuss it, I guess. What do you think about it?”

“I’m a very committed person. If I agree to this I need to know that you won’t try to ever usurp my position in his life.” Tony didn’t know what to say. He trusted Pepper with everything in his life more than he trusted himself most times. 

“Pep,” he started. 

“I had a stepmother and it was a strained relationship. She never answered my questions instead she just told me to ask my dad. When he passed away she broke off contact completely. I don’t want that for him, well I mean them. They’re a package. It’s not like I could just do this for Peter and leave Harley out. If we do this then it’s a united front for them just like it is with Morgan. We would have an equal say. I don't know how to be a pretend mother and I don't think I want to.” Tony knew that Pepper was amazing. In fact, he had no doubts that she could do literally anything in the world. Sitting on that blanket in the middle of the park, he couldn't believe that somehow she'd gained another level of amazing. This woman who had no reason to wanted to love and mother his children. She was ready to essentially adopt both of his sons as her own just because. 

He heard someone say that you only have three great women in your life; well for him, Pepper Potts was all three of his rolled into one. 

Gently he reached forward and took her hand. “Pepper, I would never ask you to be their stepmother. I want you to be their mother. I mean they have me, but with you they’ll have so much more. I’d love you to be their mother, nothing in the world would make me happier than knowing all three of my kids have both of us to depend on.” This time Pepper leaned forward and kissed him. 

“What does this mean for us, Mr. Stark?” He smiled pulling away. 

“Everything,” he said full of emotion. Things were finally looking up. He was about to ask her to move back in when he heard the distinct sounds of sweaty child coming toward them. He looked up just in time to wrangle Peter who was about to stumble face-first onto the food. 

“Good catch, Daddy!” Tony rolled his eyes and readjusted Morgan on his lap. 

“God gave me two hands for a reason, I suppose,” he said watching the dirty boy dust himself off with a big smile on his face. Tony couldn’t do anything his baby boy was just plain old clumsy. “So what do you need, Roo?”

“Daddy! Ned’s here and his mama says he can spend the night! Harley’s gonna ask if Brad and Randy can come over, but I wanted to ask first in case you say that’s too many kids.” Tony had no idea how the boy got all of that out without taking a breath. “So can he? Please?” 

Tony smiled and turned toward Pepper. “What do you think Pep?”

“Sounds fine to me. Are you ready for that level of chaos? Sleepovers are crazy.” 

Tony gave her a sly smile. “Well, we did say we would be in this together.” 

Pepper rolled her eyes. “Go tell Ned to ask his mom if she can see me really quick.” 

Peter jumped up and down! “Yay! Thank you, Mommy,” he said taking off. Tony shook his head as he watched Peter run toward his friend who was standing near the swings. 

“So how long has he been calling you that?” She smiled.

“Only a few days. Started last week when I put him to bed. it just slipped out and has been consistently for a couple of days now.” Tony hummed and watched the small boy scamper across the grass. 

“Dad! Dad!” Tony rolled his eyes as Harley rushed toward him flanked by two kids with skateboards. “Can Randy and Brad sleepover?” 

“Your brother already asked,” Tony said amused. Harley presses his mouth into a scowl. 

“He’s such a baby! It’s so annoying. I can’t have anything without him!”

“Hey, that’s enough. I was just saying that he mentioned you might also ask to have someone over and if it’s ok with their parents then they can come.” Harley relaxed his shoulders. 

“I don’t want him around us. They’ll want to watch the Lego movie or something.” Tony raised his eyebrow. He didn’t mind Harley’s decision to not want his brother around, he actually was kind of excited. What he didn’t like was the boy’s disgust when saying it. 

“That’s your brother,” he said. 

Harley sighed and rubbed his face. “You said I don’t gotta let him play with me if I don’t want to and I don’t.”

“That’s fine, but you’re not going to be rude to him about it. Got it?” Harley nodded grudgingly. 

“But I don’t gotta let them in my room, right?”

“No, Harley he has his own room,” Tony said. The boy sighed. 

“Great! Thanks! Let’s go get your mom!” Tony shook his head watching the boys take off. 

“You know something? Where are we going to put all of these kids,” Pepper asked. Tony shook his head. 

“Call Uber because I’m not getting a minivan.”

~/~

Tony flopped dramatically onto his bed where Pepper looked up from her tablet smiling. “That good, huh?” 

“I hate them.” She snorted. 

“Oh, I’m sure. Five boys in my kitchen at once. Five of them. It was like watching a pack of wild hogs in a trough when the pizza came. I've never seen that much bread and sauce fly in the air like that." He cringed at the memory. "Between the burping and farting, I thought I would jump out of the window. Let’s not forget they don’t want to use deodorant or take baths so yeah. My nostrils will never be the same.” He heads Pepper snicker quietly. Sitting up he glared at her. “You knew!”

“I have brothers, Tony. I told you this would be a lot.”

“I don’t like you. I withdraw everything I said earlier.”

“Sure you do,” she said, leaning in to kiss him. 

“When are the boys going to be in their rooms?”

“Oh, I can send them now!” A laugh escaped from her throat. 

“It’s five, Tony.”

“And? They’ve got games and movies. They’ll be fine. Trust me,” he said pulling her in for another kiss. He felt his heart rate pick up as the kisses became more intense and her arms wrap around his chest. 

“Daddy!” Before he could react Harley and Peter burst into the room. Tony and Pepper sat up quickly. 

“I told you two to knock. Come on, we talked about this yesterday!” The boys gave them a knowing smile. Tony groaned. 

“I knew it,” Peter shrieked! “I told you!” Harley rolled his eyes at his brother. 

“You know, I’ve got two annoying siblings already, can you at least wait until Peter’s like twelve before you try and give me another one?” Tony threw a pillow at Harley’s head that the boy ducked and started cackling. 

“I want another brother, mine sucks!” Harley playfully shoved his brother but a yelling match ensued anyway. Climbing off the bed Tony grumbled to himself about these mood-killing progenies as he shooed them out of his room before locking the door. 

“Where were we?” Pepper rolled her eyes just as Peter’s voice burst through the door. 

“Can we make ice cream sundaes?” Tony growled taking a page right out of Peter’s book. 

“Yeah! Sure!” The boys whooped and he smiled when he heard their feet run down the stairs. “Now, where were we, madam?”

“We were nowhere,” Pepper said scooting off the bed. “However I am going to bunk in our daughter’s room on that lovely little daybed you insisted that a three-year-old needed.”

Tony growled as he watched her leave through the open door. 

They weren’t even adopted yet and they were already messing up his chances for a fun night. He dramatically flopped back onto the bed. 

~/~

Tony descended the stairs with bleary eyes. It was a little after ten and the boys were finally settled into their separate sleeping places. It had been a crazy night. He’d come to the conclusion that boys were loud and territorial. Already he had to separate both groups three times with the last time ending in Harley’s and his friends sitting on Peter and Ned. It was an amazing feeling when he’d finally banished the boys into the rooms where they would be sleeping. That finally seemed to make everything seem perfect. No more arguing or fights. Pepper was crazy, he could so do this. Yawning he turned the corner toward the kitchen before he heard he heard scuffling and hushed arguing. He hesitated before entering. 

“It’s for us! You can’t have sugar after dinner anyway.”

“Liar! Daddy said I can!”

“Yeah, right. Since when?”

“Don’t matter douche,” Peter said trying to sound menacing. “Me ‘n Ned want ice cream.” He heard the muffled sounds of wrestling and grunting before Peter cried out and groaned. 

Great. 

He rushed inside to see Peter on the floor holding his stomach. “What happened,” he asked as if he didn’t know. 

Springing up, Peter rushed toward him in hysterics. “Daddy! He hit me! Stupid dick knob!” Tony sighed and glared at Harley who was glaring right back. 

He had to give it to him, the kid definitely didn’t back down. 

“He rushed me for the ice cream. I told him we were going to eat ice cream and he tried to get it first,” Harley growled out. Tony looked at the boy who was shirtless walking only in a pair of shorts. His hair was slicked back from a recent shower, but he definitely wasn’t relaxed. If anything he looked full of turmoil. 

“There’s enough for everybody,” Tony said rolling his eyes and rubbing Peter’s back where the boy was still leaning into him. It was obvious to tell that Peter was putting on a bit of a show especially with his whimpers and small groans of discomfort. The kid should win an Oscar, he observed. Standing up he gently nudged Peter to stand in front of him next to his brother. “I bought plenty of ice cream so I know there’s enough for you guys to have a bunch of it, but” he started before Harley cut him off.

“No there isn’t! Not after him and his fat friend eat it all!” Tony couldn’t believe his ears. Had his little boy really said something so cruel and heartless? 

“Harley Edward Stark!” Tony’s growl silenced both boys. “That was rude and you know it. Pick a step,” he demanded. 

“That’s for babies!” Tony didn’t respond instead he just pointed. Harley growled before stomping over to the stairs that led upstairs and sat down. “Stupid,” he grumbled. Tony turned to Peter who had the saddest guilty look on his face. 

He picked Peter up and set him on the counter so he could look the boy in the eyes. “What happened?”

“I wanted some um ice cream and Harley said no.” Tony let his eyebrow raise in question. As he suspected Peter started to fidget with his hands. 

“Bud, you know you can’t have sugar after dinner,” he said gently. They found that sugar was an irritant and also a trigger for Peter’s bladder issues. If they limited his intake of it then the boy had a better chance of staying dry. “You know that.” Peter’s guilty look deepened. 

“I’m sorry. I just wanted some. Ned wanted to watch a movie and I didn’t think it was a big deal,” he said quietly. Tony sighed. His kid just wanted to fit in and have a good time. 

“It’s ok, Roo,” he said wiping the boy’s curls out of his face. “I know it’s hard sometimes, but we’ve got to stick to the program, ok? You and Ned can have ice cream with lunch.” 

“Ok. I’m sorry I hit Harley. Am I in trouble too?”

“No, but I need you to listen to the rules, ok? No more just doing what you want.” 

“Yes sir,” he said quietly. Smiling Tony set the boy on the ground. 

“Harls, come in here,” he said. The blonde appeared still looking pissed off but he appeared less ready to pummel his brother. “I want you to apologize to your brother right now.” Harley scoffed. 

“He starred it! He’s always in my way! You said he’d stay out of the way and they’ve been everywhere!” Tony rolled his eyes again. Man, he was doing that a lot. 

“Apologize,” he said firmly. Harley shook his head and tightened his face into a scowl. “You’re going to apologize right now or I’m sending your friends home.” Harley gaped up at him in disbelief before shaking his head. “Well?”

“Sorry,” he spat out. 

“Go back to bed, Peter.” Peter reached his arms up and stuck out his cheek. Gosh, this kid was so cute. Leaning down he gave the boy a quick hug and a kiss on his head. 

“Night Daddy,” he said before turning around scowling at his brother. Before Tony could say anything he pushed his brother and tried to run away. Harley anticipated Peter and grabbed his brother by the arm and landed two solid hits on the boy’s back. Peter whined and dropped to the floor before running off. He sighed, boys. Once Peter left, Tony could turn back to Harley. “Why are you being so mean?”

“‘M not,” the boy grumbled. Tony cocked his eyebrow. 

“So it must be another boy who just punched his little brother.” Harley rolled his eyes. “Well?” 

“I just wanted one thing for myself. Is that so bad?” Tony sighed and picked Harley up before setting him on the counter. 

“Ok, spill. What’s going on in that head,” he asked tapping the boy’s temple gently. Harley continued to avoid Tony’s eyes choosing instead to grip the edge of the counter tighter and tighter. After a few minutes of silence, Tony used his index finger to make Harley’s eyes meet his. To his surprise the boy had tears leaking out of his eyes. “Harls, come on what is it?”

“He’s always around. I love him, I do, but he won’t go away,” he said sniffing. “ I mean we played with them at first, but you know it was baby stuff. I told them we could play tomorrow, but it didn’t work. I tried to play games in the living room and here they come. I go outside and they follow us.” Harley wiped his eyes. “It’s not fair. Brad and Randy came over to hang out with me not them.” 

“Why didn’t you come to me?” 

Harley shook his head in frustration and looked away. “I thought you’d get mad. Say I was being selfish.”

“When have I ever gotten on you for wanting your own space?” Harley looked at him. “If you want space that’s fine. I’ve never had a problem with that, but you can’t treat him like you’ve been doing. It’s not nice.” 

“But he’s annoying.”

Tony hardened his gaze. “I mean it. I don't want you hitting your brother or being mean to him. If you have a problem, come find me. Got it?” 

“Fine,” he grumbled. “It’s still not fair though. I just want a break.” Tony clicked his teeth. He thought Harley was mostly over his issues with having to watch his brother all of the time, but he didn’t realize the issue was still this bad. 

“How about this? Next weekend you have your friends back over and I’ll set something up where Peter is gone. He can go stay with Ms. Pepper or somewhere. Then you can have a brother free sleepover, ok?” Harley sighed deeply and wiped his eyes again. 

“Thank you.” He smiled at his son and ruffled his hair. 

“Go back to your friends, Spud. Night.”

“Night Daddy.” Tony rubbed his eyes. He just wanted a glass of water. 

“You have hit a milestone,” Pepper said walking through the patio. Tony was clutching his chest in surprise. 

“Where did you come from,” he sputtered. She laughed as she approached him wrapping her arms around his neck.

“I was having a drink on the patio when the fun started,” she said smiling.

“Fun, huh?”

“Oh yeah. Watching you at work is quite entertaining.”

“So tell me, what’s this milestone?” With that, she gave him one of those knowing smiles. 

“You sir, full named your son,” Pepper said smiling. “I think you’re officially his dad now.” Tony rolled his eyes. 

“I’m turning into my mother,” he groaned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Was that everything you wanted it to be?


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some say this is the end...others say jwriter819 doesn't do stories without an epilogue. ;) 
> 
> Parting is such SWEET sorrow, but I have had sooo much fun with this story!
> 
> ...and I've started writing ANOTHER one with our favorite boys and our favorite couple. Maybe a preview at the end of the epilogue.

Tony found himself sitting on the chair watching Harley teach Peter to skateboard. Peter’s knees were bent and he’s covered in giant pads on his joints with a big box helmet. 

The exercise started out as a “bonding” moment for them which was parental mumbo jumbo for they could either play together and get along or both go to bed early that night. He was glad they chose the more docile option.

His phone rang glancing up he saw they were still smiling. “Tony, I just heard from Ron, the judge can grant the adoption tomorrow. Is that ok with you?” A big smile crossed his face. 

Of course, it was ok.

“Yeah, Pep,” he said hoarsely. “It’s uh perfect.”

“I’ll send you all the details.” With a smile on his face, he stood up moving toward his boys who wore matching smiles of their own. 

“Tony! Look at his, show ‘em, Peter!” Smiling widely Harley let go of Peter who pumped himself twice on the skateboard before bending his knees to go up the ramp and landed. He raised his arms in triumph and a squeal of joy! 

“I did it!” Peter jumped off the board and ran straight to Tony.

“Did you see it?” Unable to help himself he picked the boy off the ground and planted a kiss on his cheek.

“Of course I saw it! You did so good, Roo!” Peter wriggled out of Tony’s arms and ran to Harley.

“What else can you show me? That was so much fun!” Harley shrugged like it was no big deal. Tony wasn’t sure if he thought he didn’t know how to respond or what, but the look he was showing was definitely not the same one he’d shown just moments before. 

“Hey, Pete, why do you go get us some sodas?” The boy’s mouth dropped open. He rarely was allowed soda due to his bladder issues. 

“Really? Any kind I want?”

“Any kind,” he said smiling. Peter didn’t need any further pressing and took off past the clearing toward the house. “So what’s up?”

“You walked away and took that call. Was it bad?” Tony wanted to scold him for worrying about these he didn’t need to, but in all actuality, it made sense for him to worry. Harley Keener hadn’t had many good things happen in his life and it made sense for him to still fear it all being taken away or something awful happening to him. 

“No, it wasn’t. It was a good call actually. A very good call.” Harley let out a sigh of relief.

“I thought maybe Paige or Ms. Wanda didn’t want us to stay here.” Tony was about to open his mouth when Peter came running toward them with three sodas in his hands. 

“Don’t run…” he started before the boy promptly fell flat on his face. Good thing it was grass. Picking himself up he dusted himself off before grabbing the sodas again and rushing toward them at a slower pace this time. 

“Here you go!” He handed Tony and Harley root beers while he had a red strawberry soda in his hand. Tony looked closely at his youngest son and noticed his lips were blue. 

“Peter James, did you drink a soda while you were in the house?” The boy sputtered like he was a car running out of gas. “Hand it over.” Peter’s face fell but did as he was told. “You know better. We just talked about this yesterday.” 

“I didn’t mean to drink it all, I just wanted some, but it was so good I couldn’t stop!” Tony rolled his eyes. He leaned down. 

“But you knew it was wrong to drink that one and try to get another one. You’re a big boy and Daddy doesn’t like it when you lie.” Peter dropped his head covered in guilt. “You that was wrong, right?” Peter nodded making his curls flop in agreeance.

“I gotta go to sleep early,” he asked looking up at him pitifully. He sighed at his son. The thing about consistency was that his boys knew the consequences for their poor decisions, but it still sucked to watch it happen. 

“This is the third time you didn’t listen to Daddy this week so what do you think Roo?” A tear slipped down Peter’s face. 

“‘M sorry,” he whined starting to crumble. 

“It’s only thirty minutes, Peter.”

“But that’s when I play with my toys,” he whined. Tony sighed he wanted to pick him up to comfort him, but Jasmine told him that he needed to let Peter feel the effects of his actions without consolation. He desperately tried to hold his ground, but it was such a happy moment.

He had to follow through. 

One look at Harley and he knew he was doomed. The boy looked devastated. 

What the hell.

Tony Stark was never really one to follow the rules anyway. 

“So we all make mistakes, yeah? This time you’re not in trouble, but you’ve got to stop lying buddy.” Peter sniffed and nodded pitifully. Tony’s resolve was breaking, he really wanted to pick him up and console him.

“Daddy is it ok if Peter sips some of my soda? That way he can just have some,” Harley said. “We gotta celebrate together.” Peter looked up hopefully frantically wiping his eyes. 

These kids.

“Two sips and no more. We’re on a roll with dry sheets, right?” Peter nodded letting a smile peek through. He ushered the boys over to the small bench they’d built and they opened their sodas. Harley took the first sip and then as promised let his younger brother have a sip of his own. Tony smiled when after the second sip Peter handed the soda back to Harley and put his hands in his pockets. 

Good boy. 

“So Dad, what is it you want to tell us?” Tony let the smile erupt on his face. 

“Well, I’ve got one question for you...are you ready to be adopted?” they looked at each other smiling. 

“Already? You said by my birthday,” Harley said excitedly. 

“Tomorrow,” Tony answered smiling. Both boys jumped up and rushed toward him leaving the sodas scattered on the ground. 

“We're gonna be a real family now,” Peter declared. Tony planted a kiss on Peter’s face. If this kid only knew how much of a family they already were.

~/~

Tony hummed as Harley guided his hand toward a set of wires that they were implanting onto a circuit board. After several mishaps, he’d discovered the boy didn’t have great fine motor skills so he put a plan together to help him conquer his struggle. 

As he watched the boy lay each wire he couldn’t help but think how far they’d come. Just a few months ago he couldn’t tell Peter anything without Harley interjecting and now the boy was actually honoring his bedtime and tomorrow they would legally be his sons. 

What a ride it had been.

“Can I ask you a question?” 

“Go ahead, Spud. What’s up?” 

“Well um, I like skateboarding, but I like robots too. Do I have to choose?” Tony shook his head. 

“No, you don’t. You need options, buddy. Why do you ask?”

“Well, we met with the guidance counselor today you know to help us pick a path for high schools and stuff. She said I’m wasting my time with skateboarding and I should choose a concrete option to explore in high school, but I don’t want to. I like them both and other stuff.”

“You tell her the next time she gives you advice to call me,” he said curbing his words. He wanted to say tell her to ‘suck a lemon’, but he knew Harley would take that bit and run with it. “Here, let me show you a trick,” he said switching places with his son. 

“So I don’t have to choose? I can still skate on my team?”

“Of course. You’re only eleven. Trust me, you have plenty of time to decide what you want to do in life. Although I do think maths and sciences would be better for you, don’t worry, you still have time before you have to apply to high schools.”

Apparently, Harley liked that answer and contented him to watch Tony work. The boy was leaning over his shoulder with his forearm resting on Tony’s back. “Dad,” he asked after a while.

“Yeah, bud,” he said staring at the wire he was sautering. 

“Um, if I tell you something you can’t get mad at me, ok?” That got Tony’s attention and he stopped the soldering iron cold. 

“Harley.”

“Promise me, ok?” Tony rolled his eyes knowing he was probably going to regret this decision especially right before he had to go to court the next day.

“Fine, I promise.”

“You uh remember that night I got picked up by the cops?” Tony nodded, like duh. “Well, um I wasn’t like painting walls.” He bit his lip. “I was um at the Gearhead Robot Battles.” Tony dropped the iron in his hand.

“What?” Those competitions were ones he and Rhodey snuck into when they were in their mid to late teens. It was full of drugs, weirdos, and drinking all in the name of building death bots to destroy each other. It was definitely not a place he wanted his eleven-year-old. “But the shop owner caught you.”

“Well um not exactly. We were running because of the cops and I tripped right in front of the shop. The guys who were tagging heard the sirens and pushed me back down just before the cops got there.” 

“How long have you been doing it?”

“When I was with Joe and Melanie as much as I could. They didn’t care and Peter was asleep. I only made it twice since we moved here.” 

“Why are you telling me? Are you asking for permission to go?” Harley bit his lip and nodded. 

Tony remembered the rush of building renegade bots and the camaraderie of hanging out with his best friend. 

“Ricky and Jeff want to go again, but they know I’m not allowed.” Tony chewed the inside of his lip. Ricky and Jeff were thirteen and fourteen if he remembered correctly. They were also Rhodes Scholar’s kids. Tony wasn’t sure if that was an influence he wanted his young son to have, but then again Harley wasn’t a typical eleven-year-old in fact he was just weeks away from turning twelve. 

“You can go on three conditions. You agree to all three or it’s a no go, got it?” Harley nodded quickly. “One you don’t sneak out to go. Two you can only go once a month.” To that Harley made a face of protest. “Nope, don’t want to hear it. Those things start way past your bedtime, you’re lucky I’m being this nice.” 

“Fine, whatever. What’s the last one?”

“You go with a chaperone of my choosing.” Harley whined, but Tony held firm. 

“What? What’s the point of even going?” Tony quirked an eyebrow in challenge. “Fine, can it be somebody cool please?” 

“What? You mean cool like me?”

“No, I mean someone who doesn’t remember life before the internet kinda cool.” Tony narrowed his eyes. 

Snarky kid.

“I’ll take care of it.” He was pretty sure Rhodes' nephew would love to go. Harley huffed out a puff of disgruntled air before he started to collect his materials to put up for the night. “I must say I’m proud of you kid. You could have kept that secret and I wouldn’t have known about it at all, but you didn’t. That was really mature.” Nodding Harley let out a big yawn. “Let’s get you up to bed.” Harley didn’t protest when Tony picked him up and threw him over his shoulder. He made a few maneuvers with his body full of excitement before he realized he was an old man and plopped his son down onto his bed. Harley grinned up at him making the warm feeling in his chest spread through his whole body.

“Can I ask you another question?” Smiling from ear to ear Tony leaned back on his hands on the boy’s bed. 

“Of course. Even though I’m suspecting you’re trying desperately to stay up later than usual.” The grin Harley gave him proved exactly that. “What is it, Spud?” 

“I know Peter asked to call Ms. Pepper um mom? I um well do I have to?” Tony sputtered. Today was so emotionally charged. 

“Well let me ask you this, do you want to?” 

“I don’t know. She’s really nice. Like way nicer than Paige, but um she’s not my mom. Well not really. I mean she’s Morgan’s mom.” Tony slid forward in the bed so he was closer to Harley’s head. 

“What’s the real issue here? Shoot straight with me.” Harley pulled himself up in the bed so he was sitting up. 

“I’ve never met my mom and Paige didn’t like me really. She always preferred Peter. What if Ms. Pepper likes him more too? I mean I’m happy for him. I am, but well yeah.” Tony reached out to gently grab his son’s hand. He couldn’t imagine being that brokenhearted at eleven years old. 

“I can tell you one thing I know for sure. Ms. Pepper loves you and Peter just like she loves Morgan. She is the best woman you’ll ever meet in your life. I promise you that.” 

“But I’m not hers,” he pressed.

“Neither is Peter technically.” Harley made a face before rolling his eyes.

“You know how Peter is. He’s so cute and everybody falls in love with him. It’s those stupid eyes. They’re like magic or something.” He sighed. “I’m not like that. People don’t fall in love with me. They just don’t.” 

“I did.”

“That’s different.”

“How? I didn’t have any reason to love either of you. I chose to. Same with Uncle Rhodey, Uncle Steve, and even Ms. Pepper. We love you both for you.” Harley puffed out a harsh breath.

“Want me to tell you what she said when we discussed this last week? She said that she would not only be Peter’s mom but she had to be yours too. She also told me in no uncertain terms that if I thought she was expendable in your lives that she wouldn’t do it.” 

“So she asked for me too?”

“Yep and she guaranteed that it would be for the rest of your life.” Harley sighed with relief. 

“I was worried.” Unable to help it he reached out and pulled the boy close to his chest in a tight hug. 

“We love you very much. You are home and you will never be alone again. You hear me?” Harley nodded silently into his chest. “You three mean the world to us collectively and separately.” He broke the hug then stood up ready to do their handshake when Harley lifted his arms for another hug.

“I love you, Daddy.” 

“I love you, Spud.” He planted a kiss on the boy’s hair then turned to leave the room. 

~/~

As they sat on the bench outside the courtroom, Tony knelt down in front of his boys with a big smile on his face. “So we’ve got to look nice today. Lots of pictures are going to be taken ok?” The boys nodded and he pulled out ties. The boy’s groaned. 

“No ties!” 

“Nope sorry, it’s a big day.” He pulled the matching blue ties out of his pocket and tied Harley’s first then Peter’s. 

“We match,” Peter piped up. Tony rolled his eyes. They sure did. Navy blue pants, white shirts with navy blue ties. 

“Tony they’re ready for us,” Pepper said peeking out of the courtroom. Standing up he looked both boys in the eyes and smiled. 

“You guys ready?” Peter jumped up and down in anticipation and excitement while Harley merely nodded with a bright grin on his face. “This is the best decision I’ve ever made.” He took each boy’s hand in his and walked into the courtroom. For a brief moment, he faltered when he saw Wanda and Pietro sitting in the back next to Paige whom he hadn’t seen since court many months back. The boys were looking right at Morgan and missed them thankfully. He walked them right up to the front and sat at the table. 

“We’re here today to grant the petition of adoption of Harley Brian Keener and Peter Benjamin Parker to Anthony Edward Stark. After reviewing the documents of your social worker Ms. Maria Hill and the immense letters of support I believe that this is the best decision for these children. I do have one complaint request that wants to be addressed, but first I want to hear from the children. Would you boys mind coming up here.” Harley grabbed Peter’s hand and they quietly stepped toward the judge. Tony smiled big like the proud father he was as his boys stood tall. “Would you like to say a few words today?” 

“Yes Your Honor, we would,” Harley said clearly. “My brother and I have been talking and we want you to know that we love our dad very much.” Harley cleared his throat. “Before we met him all we had was each other. Some days weren’t so good for us at first, but when we met him everything changed. We didn’t know that life could be so good. He fed us all the time, he took us to the doctors, he even got us new clothes and beds. He made us feel like we mattered to him. For the first time in forever, we weren’t afraid. We felt safe with him. Then, something happened and we didn't get to stay with him for a long time. Those days were terrible. All we wanted to do was to go home and be with our dad. Now that we’re back with him we don’t want to have to leave him ever again. We love him, our sister, and the rest of our family. We want to be Starks.” Tony smiled brightly at them. His heart could burst with joy. The judge opened his mouth, but Peter’s small voice cut him off.

“Can I say something?”

“Of course Peter, go ahead.”

“I love my daddy. I have some problems that are hard to talk about, but he never made me feel bad about it. He just kept working with me until I got it. Nobody did that before. When I met him I learned that I was important and I just want to say that I love him and I don’t wanna go nowhere else,” he said before burying his face in Harley’s shoulder. Tony turned glancing at Pepper and Rhodey who had tears in their eyes, none of them expected Peter to say anything. 

This kid was full of surprises.

The judge dismissed them and the boys ran back to Tony’s side. The rest of the proceedings were quick until the very last moment. “I have a complaint request from a Paige Parker?” The boys snapped their heads up to Tony before they saw the woman sitting in the back of the room. “Is Ms. Paige here?” The petite brunette stood up and walked toward the front of the room. 

Tony’s breath caught in his throat. He could feel Peter’s little hands clamped down on his. He used his free hand to wrap his arm around Harley’s chest in an attempt to let him know that he was still there. His oldest tightened his own hand around Tony’s. 

“Do you have a complaint you want to voice?” To his great surprise, the woman turned and looked at him and the boys with fondness and tears in her eyes.

“Your Honor, I came here today fully intending to disrupt this adoption and request reunification with my children, but I’ve heard it said that when you love something you let it go. I didn’t do right by them for a long time. I didn’t see it then, but I do now. Those boys look happier than I’ve ever seen them.” She bit her lip. “And my baby is talking in front of people?” She closed her eyes tightly. “He’s always been too shy to do that before. No, you leave them right where they are. That’s where they belong.” Before anyone could react she practically ran out of the room with Wanda and Pietro on her tail. 

“Very well, I declare by the state of New York that Peter James Stark and Harley Edward Stark are now the legal children of Mr. Anthony Edward Stark.” He looked at the boys. “He’s your daddy now.” 

“Yay,” Peter said loudly making everyone laugh. 

“Well, I guess that’s it. These are your children now, Mr. Stark,” the judge said. Tony smiled and started to pepper the boys with kisses. 

This was their dream come true. 

“They’ve always been my children.” Smiling they all talked in the courtroom for a few minutes taking pictures and enjoying the moment. They had plans for a big barbecue and lots of fun in a couple of hours, but for right now Tony just wanted to celebrate that his babies were his forever. 

“Daddy, who’s that lady?” Tony looked up at Peter who was on his shoulders and let his eyes find where the boy was pointing. Turning his head he saw the familiar brunette turned blonde in the back of the courtroom. A smile crossed his face. 

She made it. 

“Yeah, who is that,” Harley asked leaning into Tony’s side. 

“That’s your Aunt Nat,” he said smiling. 

Peter tapped Tony’s face with his little hand “Aunt? Like Uncle Rhodey?”

“No bud, she’s my sister,” he said looking up at him. “My parents adopted her when she was about your age.” The woman in question walked toward the family with a subtle bounce, poise, and confidence that only being a Stark could give you.

“Anthony.”

“Natasha or should I say, Natalia?” The woman dramatically rolled her eyes. “I just want to say thank you for what you did for us. We’re a family because of you.” She smirked at him.

“Why that sounds dangerously close to a compliment, Mr. Stark.”

“As close as you’ll get Ms. Stark,” he said smirking. Peter started to squirm so Tony set him down so he was on his feet. Of course, as soon as he did that Morgan climbed into his arms. Apparently, fatherhood meant being a jungle gym. 

“I guess I’ll take it even though I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve done nothing anyone could prove anyway,” she said smirking. Turning toward the boys and Morgan she smiled. “You must be Harley. You’re almost as tall as your dad. Good thing you have your own genes to choose from.” Tony rolled his eyes while Harley grinned. “And Peter, you are as cute as a button. You’re going to drive girls wild I’m sure.” Then she turned to Morgan who looked equally as confused and impressed. The girl let the woman pick her up. “Morgan Stark, you are the spitting image of your dad, but you got your mom’s brains. That means you are very lucky.” Morgan giggled even though Tony was sure she had no idea what the woman was talking about. She looked around the family with a soft smile before returning Morgan to her father’s arms. “Well, I should get going. The UN requires me.”

Tony sputtered. “UN? When’d that happen?”

“You have a lot to learn older brother,” she said. “Tell him Rhodes, when the government calls you answer.” 

“Oh, I am so not in this. I don’t get in the middle of Stark sibling squabbles. Nope,” Rhodey said. 

“Um Aunty Nat, will you come to our house? We’re having a party. Daddy and Mommy are grilling and we’re having our friends and family over. You should come,” Peter said smiling at her. Harley reached down to pull him back but Tony shook his head.

The woman looked at Tony before down at Peter. “You want me there?” The curly brunette nodded.

“Well, I guess I must for my baby nephew.” Peter gave a big smile and reached out for a hug. 

“Family’s always welcome,” he said still hugging her. Nat looked at Tony and all he could do was smile. 

Family was definitely always welcome.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well? What'd you guys think? Have you enjoyed the fun ride?


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This my friends is the END!
> 
> Thank you to everyone who came along for the ride! 
> 
> As I promised I'm including one of the interviews with the family who inspired this story.

_Six Years Later_

Tony walked down the stairs of his home feeling a bit nostalgic. Most of the items in their house were now in boxes. The Stark family was moving. It was definitely bittersweet, but it was something that had to happen.

They were about to leave everything behind including the only real home his boys ever knew.

Alas, he’d raised his boys and it was time to move on. 

Even if it was hard. 

They say that time waits for no man and as Tony looked at the picture of him and his boys on their first Christmas together he knew that had to be true. After countless nights of wiping noses, giving kisses, and having dog piles both his sons--his babies--were moving out. 

Well sort of. 

His oldest, his golden-haired namesake was leaving for his first semester at MIT. The kid had grown leaps and bounds since he’d first met him. Sure he was still snarky and sarcastic as hell, but now he was a whopping five feet eleven inches tall and with a voice almost as deep as Tony’s. The kid had pushed himself to grow beyond his childhood traumas to become a young man that astonished Tony every day. He was a sponsored skateboarder and a National Merit Scholar. His accomplishments were longer than Tony’s pre-sobriety arrest record. Which was quite the feat. 

The kid did everything well.

Tony frequently worked in the lab with both of his sons, but the experience was different with each of them. While Peter came in mostly for fun and to tweak an idea in his head, Harley could conceptualize an idea and see it all the way through by hand. It was remarkable to see. Everyone always remarked how Harley was almost an exact replica of his dad. It made Tony smile to think about it. At seventeen the kid could skip MIT and probably do Master’s level work, but it was important to him to have as many regular childhood experiences as possible so like all other recently graduated seniors they’d packed up his room ready to move him into his first dorm.

And Tony was so not ready for it. 

Well, he probably would be fine if his youngest son wasn’t about to leave the nest as well. 

Peter his baby boy was honestly his heart. That boy even at sixteen years old was still a Daddy’s boy through and through. Even when Peter spent the night at one of his friends’ houses or left overnight for a robotics team trip he always made sure to video call his dad and tell him goodnight. He’d long ago stopped calling Tony ‘Daddy’, but the sentiment was still there. If Tony was around Peter was probably close by or planning to get near Tony. That was a part of the reason why they were sending Peter to Brentwood Hillsboro Academy in Cambridge for his junior and senior years of high school. As brilliant and amazing as Peter was he still had issues being alone and without either Tony or Harley around. 

After discussing his situation with Jasmine and his behavior therapist it was decided that a four day on three days off program might help make the adjustment to being away from home easier for him. Like his older brother, the concepts presented in school didn’t challenge Peter. The kid could do advanced math problems in his head. The biggest problems Peter faced were social. He still was terribly shy and had a hard time in normal social situations. If it wasn’t for nerd events like Comic-Con, his Academic Decathlon team, and Robotics teams, Tony and Pepper both feared that the kid could never have chances for social interaction. Even still in those environments, he struggled not to retreat inside himself. It was hard to see the boy fall apart last year when Tony accompanied Harley to the X-Games in China for a week. Peter stopped sleeping and had started to spiral violently into a cluster of anxiety and tension. It was unhealthy and they needed a chance to remedy the situation before it got any worse. 

That was why Tony and Pepper Stark thought that Brentwood would be perfect for him. The school offered an award-winning science program and very small class sizes. Peter would be close to Harley since MIT was only forty-five minutes away in case anything happened during the week, but Peter would still come home each week for the standard three day weekends. Peter both craved and thrived on consistent routine and structure and this would offer him the that in spades while giving him the best chance at developing the necessary skills to succeed in life. 

Tony was excited for both of his sons, but in all honesty, he knew Harley was going to excel, it was Peter that kept them up at night worrying. He was sensitive and so trusting and it scared the hell out of Tony. It was hard not to remember how small and wounded his boy used to be especially the day when he’d first brought them home. 

_Six Years Before..._

_Tony had mixed feelings about the trip so far. They'd left the dingy hotel earlier that morning. After waiting for. Peter to heal and for the boys to finally sleep through the night, Tony felt that they were finally ready to settle into their new home. Quite frankly, he was probably the one out of three of them who was most excited to get the boys home. It had been such a long journey and all he wanted was for it to end. He'd expected the trip to be fun and full and anxious excitement, but if anything it was the exact opposite. No one was saying anything. Harley busied himself with staring out the window while Peter only hummed to himself or whispered to his small action figure. That more than anything was freaking Tony out. One thing about Peter was that the kid never shut up. He always had something to say. Always. To see the boy so withdrawn and passive was something Tony wasn't comfortable with. At all. Normally, Peter would be yammering away about all the cool things he was seeing and “look, Mr. Tony, look!” Not today though. The kid didn't even put up a fight over what he was supposed to wear. He merely shrugged and went into the bathroom to change. Peter wasn't being himself and it broke Tony’s heart._

_It was like he’d just given up._

__

__

_He tried to get Harley to help engage his brother, but the dirty blonde preferred to stare out the window and spin the wheels of his battered skateboard. Glancing at the clock he realized they hadn’t stopped in a while._

__

__

_“We’re going to hit up a gas station and grab some snacks and stretch,” he announced before pulling off onto the nearest exit. Even though they were almost home, he didn’t want to take any chances with Peter having another accident. “Alright let’s stretch our legs for a bit.” A deafening silence greeted him._

__

__

_“I’m solid, Tony,” Harley said not looking at him. He sighed and turned to Peter who was looking at him with a tentative smile._

__

__

_“That’s ok, me and Petey can go get snacks, right bud?” Peter shrugged and unbuckled his seatbelt. Tony smiled and grabbed the little boy’s hand. “You’ve been quiet today, Roo.” Peter squinted up at him in the sunlight. Kneeling down he placed his hands in on the boy’s shoulders. “I know they tried to scare you or make you think talking was bad, but you’re important and what you want to say is important.”_

__

__

_“You think so,” he asked with his little voice much quieter than Tony would have liked._

__

__

_“Buddy, I know so. You think me, Tony Stark would drive around looking for just anybody? Nope. You’re one of the most important things in my life and I want you to know that.”_

__

__

_“You don’t gotta though. Harley can help me. I’m ok.”_

__

__

_“I want to help you too, Peter. No one said that I have to do this. I want to because you’re important to me.” Peter still looked unsure of himself. With the boy squinting in the sunlight, Tony got an idea. He pulled his sunglasses off his face and placed them onto Peter’s. The little boy looked up at him smiling through the orange-tinted frames._

__

__

_“You don’t share these with nobody!”_

__

__

_“Nope, you know why?”_

__

__

_“Cause germs?” Tony snorted._

__

__

_“Exactly.” He made his face very serious so that Peter would know what he was about to say wasn’t a joke. “Peter, I’m sharing these with you because you’re my son and I will share everything I have with you for the rest of my life. What’s mine is yours, just like Morgan and Harley now too.” Peter smiled even wider than he did before. He stared down at the expensive frames examining them quietly. They were worth over a thousand dollars and Peter held them like he knew they were. The boy looked up hopefully._

__

__

_“Can I keep ‘em?”_

__

__

_“Sure, buddy! You ready to go get some snacks and head home?” Peter grabbed his hand and leveled him with a big smile._

__

__

_“I’d like that. I want to go home.”_

__

__

_The rest of the trip went almost exactly like Tony envisioned it. Peter was chirping and pointing out anything that he could. He was bouncing excitedly in his seat making more noise than Tony thought of, but he loved it._

It was hard to think that in just a few hours the movers were coming and taking everything they’d built together to three new places. Brentwood. MIT. The brand new Stark Mansion. 

As Tony rounded the corner he wasn’t surprised to hear his boys talking. Of course, they’d ended up in Harley’s old room. He reached up to knock, but he hesitated when he heard Peter’s voice.

“I can’t believe this is our last night here.” 

“I know. It’s hard to think that this won’t be home anymore,” Harley replied. “We had a lot of good times here.” He heard Harley laugh. “Remember when we threw that salt block in the pool?” Peter whistled.

“I thought Dad was going to kill us,” Peter said clearly amused. “They wouldn’t believe us that it was Morgan’s idea.”

“Why would they? We were thirteen and fourteen listening to our five-year-old sister.”

“You remember Mama’s look? Whoa man, I’d rather Dad scream at us than deal with her wrath,” Peter said getting closer to the door. Tony chuckled to himself, he didn’t blame them. Pepper was scary. 

“You know that just because things are changing doesn’t mean that we won’t still be a family,” Harley said evenly. Tony heard Peter let out a dramatic sigh.

“I know, but nothing’s going to be like how it is now. How it was. I guess I’m just thinking about it too much.” 

“You’re always thinking too much, Pete.” Tony heard shuffling then a grunt which he knew must mean that Harley had somehow silently antagonized his younger brother. “Let’s just enjoy this night and play some video games, yeah?” Without having to look Tony knew Peter was rolling his eyes.

“Don’t let Daddy hear you say it like that.”

“He’s got a bad hip, I’m sure I could take him,” Harley replied. Shaking his head, Tony stepped away from the door. This was something his boys could handle. 

Watching them grow up was hard, but watching them succeed would make it worth it all. 

~/~

The day had finally come. Nerves were heavy throughout the car. Tony had the two boys while Pepper and Morgan had started their day later choosing to settle at the new house first before joining them later after a ride in a private jet. 

Their first stop of the day was MIT on Saturday and then Peter’s move-in was on Monday. It worked out perfectly since they could set up Harley and stay in a nearby hotel until they had to drop off Peter on Monday before leaving to settle themselves in their new house. 

When Tony looked up in his rearview mirror he was met with a familiar and painful sight. His babies were sitting in their usual seats with Peter right behind him and Harley in the passenger seat. How many times had he seen this exact sight over the years? His boys his babies had grown into men right before his very eyes. 

He’d heard some sappy mom say it, but it was so very true; the days were long but the years were short.

How true it was indeed. 

As he pulled into the bustling campus full of parents, Tony’s heart lurched in his chest. The moment couldn’t be any more real than this. His babies were leaving him to start something new. 

He cleared his throat and put on a front.

“Let’s get this show on the road, yeah?” As he looked at his sons he could see the fear mixed with anxiety and excitement. “This gentleman is what they call the start of something brand new.” The boys rolled their eyes and hopped out of the SUV.

“You’re so lame, Dad,” Peter said groaning. 

“Hey! No, I’m not! I’m so cool,” Tony said defending himself. He spent hours researching so he could keep up with his kids. “I’m the epitome of cool, kid.”

“Right,” Harley shot back sarcastically. “So cool yeah, exactly that. That’s why my Instagram blew up with you wearing a Princess Belle outfit a couple of weeks ago.”

“Shutup, that was fashionable,” Tony replied cooly. 

“Sure it was,” Harley said stretching. “It sure was.” 

Around two hours later and a sheen of sweat they had moved most of Harley’s items into his new place of dwelling. It was around noon and Pepper and Morgan had arrived at the tail end of the moving part because of course, they did. 

They were now standing outside of the dorm watching Harley talk to a cluster of girls while Peter leaning against Tony’s chest watching from afar. They were almost the same height by now, but Peter was still very much Roo. He probably always would be. Judging by how much Peter was fidgeting Tony knew the boy was full of unspoken emotions. Greif. Fear. Worry. Self Doubt. 

It was moments like this why they’d chosen to send him to a place where he could thrive. Harley always had a way with people that Peter never did. It was hard to watch. The scars from his time with the Duncans ran much deeper than the surface. Even after years of therapy Peter still struggled with feeling significant. Tony went to console his son when Harley’s voice cut into his thoughts. “Hey, Pete! Come over here!” Looking up as if for permission Tony sighed, the kid looked so young in that moment. 

“Go ahead, bud. “ Peter tried to look cool as he scampered toward the group, but as usual he looked so dorky. God bless him. He smiled watching Harley put his arm around his brother and pull him into the conversation. One thing he never had to worry about was Harley leaving Peter behind. When they had each other they could do anything. Tony felt Pepper’s arms snake around his waist. 

“They’ll be fine you know.” Tony sputtered and sighed before looking at her head on his shoulder.

“Yeah, I know. I just worry.” 

“It’s been what eight years since you’ve known them? They’re men now. They’ll be fine with everything that you’ve taught them.” 

“You mean everything you’ve taught them. I think they learned the basics of burning water from me,” Tony said. “That and sarcasm. Lots of sarcasm.” Pepper sighed and let out a content breath as Harley beckoned Morgan over to him. She ran over like it was the best day of her life in her bright pink Skechers with a matching shirt and blue shorts. Harley promptly set her on his shoulders with a big smile on his face. 

Tony’s phone buzzed in his pocket. It was from Harley. ‘Hey, Dad, going to take the munchkins to lunch and look around. You and Mom take a minute.’

This kid.

“Well Mrs. Stark, it looks like our children want a parent-free couple of hours. What do you say to a nice lunch?” Before the words were even out his mouth Pepper was rushing toward the car. “Don’t mind if I do,” he said rushing to catch up with her. 

~/~

The sun was settling finally on the first day in the weekend of changes. They were about to leave their oldest behind. There was a party at the dorm which was code for parents to get the hell out. 

So that’s what they were planning to do. Morgan was long over the spectacle and was busying herself reading a book about spies or something. Pepper was sitting reading through emails while Harley and Peter were standing not really knowing how to leave the other one behind. 

Tony, of course, wasn’t too far away from the spectacle. “You’re going to do great,” Harley stated as if he were trying to embed the thought into his younger brother’s brain. They were standing right in front of each other with Harley looking down at his brother like he’d done their whole lives. A shadow of a smile crossed Tony’s lips. It didn’t happen as much as it used to, but Tony knew he was watching parent Harley for the first time in a long time. 

“We’ve never been apart,” Peter mumbled with his eyes trained on the ground. 

“We’re not now. You can always video call me.” 

“What if you’re busy?” Man, Peter sounded younger than sixteen. Tony shrugged but continued to watch. 

“I’m never too busy for you. Never have been, have I?” Peter shook his head. “Hey, you gotta be strong now. You’re the big brother in the house. You’ve gotta help Mama and make sure Morgan doesn’t bring any more stray animals home, huh?” Peter nodded. “You’ve got this. You do.”

“I don’t wanna do it without you.”

“Peter, you’re not. You’re going to come up here, I’ll be over there. Trust me, I’m not leaving you. It’s only forty minutes away and twenty if I use those additions we added.” Harley looked at his brother square in the eyes. “Come on, it’s always worked out before, right? P and K?”

“All the way,” Peter replied with little enthusiasm. The older teen sighed. Harley pulled Peter in for a hug before looking up at Tony. 

“Hey, Dad? Can Pete stay the night with me?” Tony smiled. Even on a day that was supposed to be all about Harley, he was still willing to give it up for his brother. 

Tony stood up straight. Even with Harley around Tony didn’t know if his youngest son was quite ready for the college party scene. Good thing he didn’t have to answer before his wife appeared. 

“How about we do this? You boys go settle at the house I rented and get Harley settled while Morgs and I will go get a swanky hotel and have a spa day?” Morgan squealed while Peter looked relieved. Tony smiled at his wife. 

God he loved her. 

Peter whooped rushed to the car while Harley lingered. “You know you can stay here, right Spud?”

Harley shrugged his shoulders like it was really no big deal. “Dad, I’ve got a whole year to meet people. They can all wait, I've got to make sure that Pete's ok.” Tony smiled and wrapped his arm around his son before planting a kiss on the side of his head. 

“You make me so proud, you know that?”

“You’ve said it once or twice.”

~/~

Setting the keys down Tony drowned at the big house. It was magnificent. High ceilings, modern look...and all of their furniture?

“Dad," Peter squeaked. "What’s this?” Tony turned to look at Peter who was gaping like a fish at the house in front of them. It looked a whole lot like the house they’d just built from the ground up. 

“Pep?” Coming behind them the woman smiled at her boys. 

“This is home!” They all turned to look at Morgan who was grinning wickedly. 

“What?” 

“Honey, let’s be honest. The boys aren’t ready to be away from you any more than you are ready to be away from them. This,” she said, gesturing to the house in front of them, “is a compromise,” Pepper said.

Morgan did a dramatic spin in the middle of the floor. “The Stark’s are invading Cambridge!”

“Pep, I don’t understand,” Tony said finally. 

“This is a big year for us. This way we can make it easier. With Harley here and Peter at Brentwood we may as well settle in because between them it's going to be another decade of undergrad and graduate level work. We may as well plant roots nearby.” Tears pooled in Tony’s eyes before he shook his head.

"What about Morgan? That new school for arts and stuff? Won't she miss that?" Tony knew he'd married a gem when his wife smiled knowingly at him. 

"That school, the one I sent you the brochure and the website for is also here in Cambridge. Tell him Morgan," Pepper said smiling. 

Morgan took a dramatic deep breath before bellowing, “The Stark’s are invading Cambridge!” 

Tony gaped like a fish before Pepper planted a firm kiss on his lips.

This was perfect. 

“Now Petey can come home for dinner and go back to school,” Morgan chirped excitedly. “Mama talked to Uncle Rhodey and he talked to Mr. Powell at the school and they said it’s ok. Lots of kids whose parents live in the area go home for dinner they just have to be back before lights out or whatever they call it.” Smiling Peter picked up Morgan and set her on his hip. “It will be great! Petey can eat with us, right Mama?”

“Yep! This way Peter can see us all often and Harley can survive on more than chips and pizza in the cafeteria,” Pepper added gently pinching her oldest son’s cheek. 

The realization seemed to hit Peter all at once who was blinking rapidly. “So I won’t be alone?” Harley rolled his eyes and gently shoved his brother before pulling him into a hug. 

“You’re never alone. Not as long as we’re around, right Dad?”

“Right, Spud. As long as we’re around you’re never going to be alone. Families stick together,” Tony said firmly. Pepper reached out and wrapped a Peter in a hug before kissing his cheek. 

“You are Peter James Stark and remember that you are never alone.” Tony Stark looked at the scene and smiled. 

Who was he kidding? The only home they needed was the one where all of them were together.

...the one with his wife, his babies, and the family he’d created over the years. He knew that as long as they were together no matter where they were none of them would ever be alone again. 

And that was a life worth dreaming for. 

~/~

Here's the real-life inspiration behind this story. I think this story and this family are remarkable. I have a real heart for foster children and adoption which is why I wanted to write a story life this. This particular story has always touched my heart and I'm glad that I could share a fictional version with all of you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm writing a brand NEW story! That I'll be posting soon...be on the lookout for that!
> 
> It features our three favorite boys and some Pepperony...I think you all will LOVE it!


End file.
